INFRINGEMENT

EU Approves New Internet Laws That Could ‘Ban Memes’

The copyright rules could be “catastrophic” for the internet.

The European Parliament has approved new internet copyright laws that campaigners say could effectively ban memes, parodies, and user-generated content. The most controversial part of the new laws states that platforms such as Facebook and Google must filter the things people post on them and check for copyright infringement. Campaigners say automated checks could reject anything that even possibly infringed copyright, such as memes that use screengrabs from movies or TV. Another section would force online platforms to pay news organizations before linking to their stories, something critics refer to a “link tax.” Julia Reda, a member of the European Parliament for the Pirate Party, said the laws will be “catastrophic” for the internet, adding: “Anything you want to publish will need to first be approved by these filters, perfectly legal content like parodies and memes will be caught in the crosshairs.” Leaders of the EU’s member states still need to sign off on the rule changes.