Have you heard of "Article 13"? If you haven't, watch this video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GbXHrj8k7dg This law could be passed by the end of this year. That's how close it is. THE END OF THIS YEAR, and no more ANYTHING. It explains that the EU is passing a law saying that no copyrighted content can be used without the owner's permission. This may not sound like a big deal. After all, aren't they doing that already? NO. This means that users on sites like YouTube, Twitter, SnapChat, Facebook, Tumblr, SCRATCH, and so many more, will not be allowed to post copyrighted content. That means no memes, no fanfictions, no Warriors content (or any other book, and no MAPs. Do you believe this? Scratch literally runs on MAPs! If this new law is passed, users will not be allowed to post songs or pictures or anything until you have the copyright. HOW ARE YOU SUPPOST TO GET A COPYRIGHT??? Highly popular books like Warriors will have to be taken down, any role-plays, fan-fiction, fan-art, and pretty much anything else will be actually AGAINST THE LAW. Do you see how big this is? @BrightShine, you won't be allowed to use characters from your favorite animes in your memes anymore. You (yes, you) can't use any background music that hasn't been specifically stated as free for use. Scratch will be ruined, and oh, we haven't even gotten to YouTube yet. Think about how many memes alone have been shown or referenced in your favorite YouTuber's videos. That by itself could take down these videos. Now, think about all the LetsPlayers and mod showcases and gameplay channels you've seen. Any videos with Minecraft, Roblox, Fortnite . . . Hey, PopularMMOs, do you have permission from Mojang to use Minecraft in your videos? You DON'T? Out the door with you! Twitter, Facebook, Snapchat, no more memes for you. Only vlogs, I suppose. Hey, is that Disney movie playing in the background approved by Disney? Now maybe you're thinking, Oh, but I don't live in Europe! This doesn't bother ME! Yeah, it does. Sites will have to isolate the European users from the other users, block them from getting any content from the outside in, block them from using any copyrighted content, and even then, it's difficult to track someone's location, so they could be lying, especially on a small website like Scratch. Website managers will find it easier and cheaper to simply have ALL users follow the same rules. As pointed out, there's a slight chance that "if ST would lack capacity (or AI technology) to moderate every newly shared project for copyrighted material, they may be forced to block ALL uploads. Not just the memes, EVERY upload. Including original art." Perhaps this isn't likely, but is a surprise of how drastically this could change Scratch. Now, okay, I see where they're coming from. Article 13 wants to stop videos like this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2tWXYeTucO0 from happening, videos where people steal work from others. However, the wording is vague enough for anyone to demand that "You can't use that [blank], I made it. No, I don't care that you gave credit, you can't use it" and the law would technically be on their side, and that's not cool for everything. Save the memes. Save the fanfics. Fight for your anime. We must stop this. _________________ Remix this project. Comment. Send links to your friends. Post it on social media. Leave a love and a favorite. Tell people IRL about the imminent death of memes. SAVE THE INTERNET.
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