Europe Looks To Remold Internet With New Copyright Rules

The European Union has approved a copyright overhaul that aims to give more protection to artists and news organizations but which critics say will stifle freedom of speech and online creativity and punish smaller web companies.

Artists, celebrities and tech experts have spoken out both in favor and against the EU directive, which the 28 member states are required to adopt as law and got final approval from the European Council. Here’s a look at key issues.

WHAT DOES THE DIRECTIVE SAY?

The most vigorously debated part of the legislation is a section that makes companies responsible for making sure that copyrighted material isn’t uploaded to their platforms without permission from the original creator. It puts the legal onus on platforms to prevent copyright infringement but critics say it will end up having a chilling effect on freedom of expression on the internet and could result in censorship.

Another section of the bill that caused concern requires search engines and social media sites to pay for linking to or offering up snippets of news articles.

HOW WILL IT AFFECT INTERNET PLATFORMS?

Some sites would be forced to license music or videos. If not, sites would have to make sure they don’t have unauthorized copyrighted material. Critics worry that could lead to costly automatic filtering. And paying for links could create further costs. That could give tech giants an edge over smaller companies. Google said last year it spent more than $100 million on Content ID, its copyright management system for approved users on YouTube, where more than 400 hours of content is uploaded every minute. The figure includes both staffing and computing resources.