YouTube CEO Warns of Dire Consequences From the EU's Article 13
In a strongly worded blog post, YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki warned against possible harmful results from EU Parliament copyright legislation known as Article 13, and asked YouTube creators to take action.
Article 13 has been called the "meme ban" because it requires sites that feature user-generated content to be much more stringent about searching out copyrighted content, and it's part of the European Union Directive on Copyright in the Digital Single Market. While YouTube created its own Content ID system years ago to search for unauthorized material, it wouldn't satisfy Article 13 requirements. Elements that currently fall under fair use rules, such as parodies and remixes, would likely not be allowed.
"This legislation poses a threat to both your livelihood and your ability to share your voice with the world. And, if implemented as proposed, Article 13 threatens hundreds of thousands of jobs, European creators, businesses, artists, and everyone they employ. The proposal could force platforms, like YouTube, to allow only content from a small number of large companies. It would be too risky for platforms to host content from smaller original content creators, because the platforms would now be directly liable for that content," Wojcicki wrote.
She urges YouTube creators to learn more about Article 13 and tweet their disapproval. The European Parliament approved amendments to the directive on September 12, but will vote on final approval in January.
YouTube head of business Robert Kyncl wrote a blog post about the regulations in September, prior to the last vote. Scroll down for YouTube's video on the subject.