Thread by @imArthurTV

So Article 13 of the Copyright Directive has passed, and that's bad news for content creators and viewers around the world. Here's what you need to know.

The Directive was created by the EU to address unfair differences in revenues generated by creators and owners of content and the online platforms that host the content. The new copyright law was supported by many, particularly in the music industry.

However, many believe Article 13 puts the creative economy of creators and artists around the world at risk.

Article 13 makes the platforms legally responsible for all the content that they host.

Under the Article, "information society service providers" such as YouTube are required to use “content recognition technologies” to scan for images, videos, audio and text content.

However, content recognition and content-blocking technology is often highly ineffective, overly broad, and counterproductive. The technology used today often blocks perfectly legal content and does not differentiate between fair use and copyright infringing activity.

Given platforms are responsible for the content uploaded to their websites, they are likely to take extreme measures to make sure they are not allowing for copyright infringement. This means heavy filtering and strong restrictions on content.

These practices are no doubt going to ignore limitations and exceptions to copyright and fundamental freedoms of creators.

Images, videos, audio and other content that would otherwise be used perfectly legally for review, commentary, parody, news reporting, educational use, research, non-profit or personal use will now almost certainly be blocked as a direct consequence of Article 13.

Member States now have 2 years to implement the Directive into domestic law. As the EU fight comes to an end, the national political fight over implementation and the legal fight begins.

With regard to the UK, the Directive is intended to regulate copyrighted content within the digital single market, so any effect on the UK will depend on the relationship between the UK and the EU, and thus the outcome of the Brexit negotiations. As of now, it's too soon to tell.

It remains to be seen how huge platforms like Google and YouTube will respond moving forward, but overall, the Directive fails to strike a fair balance between the rights of copyright owners and the rights and freedoms of creators that lead to content so many of us enjoy today.

It's a dark day for internet freedom. It's about time the people in charge of governing and legislating on the internet actually understand it, and it's our responsibility to exercise our democratic rights to vote to ensure events like this never happen again.

The final step is for the Council to adopt the law as well, which is likely to take place on April 9.

The Council is made up of the heads of state of EU countries, the European Commission President (Donald Tusk) and the High Representative for Foreign Affairs & Security Policy.

Between now and the decision of the Council, we need to sure our heads of state know that we vehemently oppose this law. Sign petitions, join the marches and protests, write to your representatives, do whatever it takes to make your voices heard.

Germany, whose Minister of Justice has come out in opposition to upload filters, could retract its support, which would make the necessary majority unlikely.

If the Council fails to gather a majority to pass the law, this will lead to further negotiations on the Directive.

So, whether they will have a say on Article 13 once again, or whether they will be voting on legislation in the future, make sure to vote in the 2019 European Parliamentary elections from 23-26 May for MEPs that will protect your rights and freedoms in this new technological era.