Will upcoming EU internet legislation affect/break MeFi?

September 17, 2018 3:13 AM

After the plenary vote on the EU copyright reform directive (previously), word is spreading that the new EU rules are likely to impact the web as we know it. Though the directive in its current adopted form won't be law before spring, at the earliest, is there a mod appraisal, a reality check of what potential effects would be if&when it is enacted (in its latest version), here at the Best of the Web™?
posted by progosk to MetaFilter-Related at 3:13 AM (7 comments total)

Firstly, to progosk, sorry for the delay posting this, but with staff on staggered vacation and other travel the last month, yesterday was the first time we were able to have a full staff meeting to discuss this and other items.

To address the title question, we do not think that the legislation will break Metafilter, but there are a lot of unknowns in terms of possible effects. The consensus is that it is just still too early to tell what the changes, if any, will look like for us, beyond some spitballing about possibly needing to limit the size of direct quotes and maybe, for example, nixing inline video. The idea of an actual "link tax" is apparently inaccurate, and we aren't catastrophising about that at this point. We'll just need to see what the actual legislation turns out looking like before we can reasonably address potential issues, but we aren't foreseeing a Metafilter where links to the internet are not allowed.

We hope folks will discuss and share their thoughts and any updates or analysis about the whole thing here, and we will try to answer questions where possible.
posted by taz (staff) at 3:15 AM on September 17, 2018 [5 favorites]

Sadly anti-eu nonsense is so common they even have a page debunking the myths - I'm sure the idea that the EU will charge people to create hyperlinks will be added there shortly.
posted by JonB at 5:01 AM on September 17, 2018 [4 favorites]

I've been following this a while and, concisely, social media is filled with exaggeration, inaccuracies and utter eyerollery garbage about it. As with the GDPR stuff earlier in the year, the media inflated fears, twitter et al amplified them, and some shady consultants made a quick buck off them. Strangely, the jails of Europe are not "filled with website" owners, and they won't be because of this.

I'd frankly just ignore it until after it becomes law, the dust has settled somewhat, and there's been some reasonable and pragmatic retrospectives. (I Am Not A Lawyer) (but also I Am Not A Hysterical Fear Merchant).
posted by Wordshore at 12:53 PM on September 17, 2018 [3 favorites]

(For clarity, I am not saying or implying that the original post is a fear merchant thing. It is good to flag up and be aware of potential legislation such as this, but not good to throw everything overboard, which some on Twitter are currently doing, about it before it is clear.)
posted by Wordshore at 1:05 PM on September 17, 2018

Prediction: these new rules will be completely inconsequential.
posted by Pyrogenesis at 2:25 PM on September 17, 2018 [3 favorites]

All the 🌶️spiciest🌶️ memes are banned here anyways
posted by Freelance Demiurge at 4:05 PM on September 17, 2018 [2 favorites]

This is Just to Say

I have breached
The legislation
That has been passed
In the EU

And which
May have far-reaching and
Unpredictable
Side effects

Forgive me
It was inevitable
So referential
And so meme

posted by Joe in Australia at 11:18 PM on September 17, 2018 [4 favorites]