On April 15, 2019, final approval was granted by both the
European Parliament and the Council of the European Union to The
European Union Directive on Copyright in the Digital Single Market
(the "Directive"), giving EU member states two years to
codify the new Directive into their own national laws.
This new Directive contains two controversial provisions that
are likely to have a significant impact on the way the Internet
functions, particularly news aggregator sites like Google News and
Reddit, and sites featuring user-generated content such as YouTube
and Facebook.
The two most relevant provisions in the Directive aim to 1) help
content creators seek compensation from aggregators and websites
that host and distribute content, and 2) prevent unauthorized users
from uploading copyrighted content.
