Did you hear about the new Article 13, the new EU copyright rules for memes sharing? The latest law passed by the European Union makes the copyright rules in accordance with the current digital era. This wide-reaching update to copyright laws is a first since 2001 and has sent the internet into frenzy. So does this new EU law affect us? Not perse, but the platforms such as Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and Soundcloud etc that will now have to ensure that any copyrighted material on their site is licensed. The motive behind this new law is that the original artist gets the payment for its use. It is said that the new rules will put an end to piracy of music and video online. The directive had 348 Members of European Parliament for it and 278 against. EU Passes Copyright Law, To Impact Big Tech Firms Like Google.

But, Are Memes Banned?

The answer to this is should be on papers no but practically YES. The directive made up of 17 articles in total out of which Article 13 which has also been dubbed a "meme ban," has been creating controversies. They will filter out the memes you see which may look like a "meme ban." While the meme sharing platforms will be put to check, the early versions of the amendments call companies to use 'recognition technologies' which means automatic filters. This will simply hide memes online. The platform owners who are using unlicensed meme content (in any form be it, a video clip, pictures or written text) copyrighted material on their sites may get in trouble. So only if you own a platform, a memes page for one in which you'll be responsible for ensuring no unlicenced material appears. The new article only makes the websites sharing memes or any similar content responsible that their platforms do not breach copyright.

What is Article 13 and will it Kill Memes?

Article 13 has Twitter rolling and the social media platform is flooding with mixed reactions. While some are not happy with the new law, some simply have hilarious reactions about the news.

Twitter Reactions on European Union passing Article 13: 

Some are using GIFs to react to Article 13

People are considering drawing their memes

Some are really angry

Some are shaking their heads

People who aren't around the EU are reacting too

Pandora's box has just opened and there is going to be more and more reactions coming for Article 13. However, Google's parent company Alphabet, has spent more than $100 million building a copyright-detection system.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Mar 27, 2019 09:30 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).