Article 13 could spell the end of YouTube.

European Union’s copyright directive is a wide-ranging legal proposal currently under consideration which could spell the end of small business promoting on Youtube.

YouTube has warned Video creators that the EU’s copyright directive will have terrible ramifications for all Independent Content creators and SME’s

YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki has warned all Video creators that the European Union’s copyright directive a wide-ranging legal proposal currently under consideration by the European Parliament would have terrible ramificationsfor independent content creators.

The controversy surrounds article 13 of the proposed legislation which would require that all online platforms (including the YouTube platform) to automatically block content that may be copyrighted and if a copyright violation were to occur the platform itself would be liable – rather than the user.

This would essentially force YouTube to only accept uploads from a small number of large companies, as it would be too risky to allow just anyone to upload anything as long as YouTube has to be on the hook for any legal damages.

That scenario could actually destroy the independent content creator industry.

YouTube has been around since 2005 and is one of the most popular websites on the internet. However, there are some concerns that Article 13 of the European Union Copyright Directive could spell the end of YouTube. Article 13 would require web platforms like YouTube to get licenses from rights holders for any content that is more than three seconds long. This could be a huge problem for YouTube because it would cost a lot of money to license all of the content that is on the website.

Of course YouTube already uses their Content ID system to address copyright infringement proactively but the copyright directive would hold them liable to someone else which means money
Lost.

So let’s all hope and or take action to ensure that the EU doesn’t pass the proposal at least with its current wording when they vote on it in January.  You can learn more HERE >>