YouTube is pushing back against Article 13

YouTube CEO Susan
Wojcicki.
Steve Jennings/Getty Images
for TechCrunch

• YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki voiced her opposition to new
  EU copyright legislation in a
  Financial Times op-ed.
• Specifically she took aim at the draft directive’s
  article 13, which would force online platforms to censor
  content that breaches copyright.
• Wojcicki says article 13 is an unrealistic way of
  policing copyright, and would deny European users access to
  lots of videos on YouTube.

YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki wrote
an op-ed in the Financial Times on Monday arguing against
tough new online copyright laws the European Parliament is trying
to push through.

Wojcicki specifically takes issue with article 13 of the EU’s
Directive on Copyright in the Digital Single Market, which would
force platforms like YouTube or Reddit to monitor for content
that breaches copyright and take it down, or else face financial
penalties. When it was first drafted, article 13 became famous as
some thought it might
pose an existential threat to memes.

Article 13 is part of legislation which was
initially blocked in July, but the
European Parliament
backed the amended legislation in September. It still faces a
final vote in early 2019.

In her article Wojcicki claims that enforcement of Article 13
would bankrupt YouTube’s “creator economy,” and asks that
policymakers re-examine how best to protect copyright.

“While we support the goals of article 13, the European
Parliament’s current proposal will create unintended consequences
that will have a profound impact on the livelihoods of hundreds
of thousands of people,” she writes.

She says that enforcement of the law is unrealistic because it
doesn’t take into account that sometimes people dispute copyright
ownership. She uses the music video for “Despacito” — which has
now amassed over 5 billion views since it was uploaded in January
2017 — as an example.

“This video contains multiple copyrights, ranging from sound
recording to publishing rights. Although YouTube has agreements
with multiple entities to license and pay for the video, some of
the rights holders remain unknown. That uncertainty means we
might have to block videos like this to avoid liability under
article 13,” she says.

She argues that European users would miss out on videos which
YouTube would be forced to censor for fear of financial risk.

Business Insider has contacted the European Parliament for
comment.

You can also read Wojcicki’s article
in this blog post.