MEP Julia Reda is a long-term critic of the music industry, which isn’t surprising given her Pirate Party affiliation. Yet in her latest blog post about Article 13, YouTube is also in her sights.
“Make no mistake: YouTube is not lobbying for a free and open internet. Instead, they are saying they would be happy if the EU went with the Council’s version of the text, drafted by the member states’ national governments. That version allows platforms to escape the crushing liability if and only if they implement upload filters. Every video users post must then first be approved by algorithms looking for copyright infringements,” wrote Reda.
“Requiring all platforms to deploy such software will give YouTube a clear competitive advantage and secure its dominance for decades to come. New startups and other competitors who can’t afford to develop their own filters will either need to shut down — or license Content ID. Google could become the main arbiter of what Europeans may post or upload to the web.”
Reda’s piece, originally published in the Financial Times, has already sparked an unimpressed response from One Media iP Group’s Lord Michael Grade. “Tech solutions, where required, are available and affordable. It is not, as Ms Reda would have it, a big business battle, but one global player dictating the terms on which millions of individuals are paid for their work, or rather not paid,” writes Grade, of the wider Article 13 debate.
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