The European Parliament has stuck a blow for censorship and passed the hugely unpopular and controversial Article 13 provision.
The legislation was passed on Tuesday by 348 votes to 274 Tuesday by MEPs.
This means that the bloc’s gargantuan, shadowy bureaucracy will be able to determine what you can and can see, read and share online under the auspices of “copyright” protection.
The legislation has been condemned as an Orwellian move against free speech online with many fearing it may well mean the end of small and independent media online as well as the sharing of memes on social media within the confines of the increasingly authoritarian bloc.
The EU parliament has sought to allay these fears stating that hat sharing memes and gifs has been protected “even more than it was before”.
However, German MEP, Julia Reda, described it as a “dark day for internet freedom.”
Meanwhile Google has said that the directive will lead to legal uncertainty and will damage Europe’s “creative and digital economies”.
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