Memes
[Photos by: Pexels, Know Your Meme]

Could a new law signal the end of internet memes?

Can you imagine a life without internet memes? The E.U. Parliament recently ruled on new copyright laws that could cause a major meme downturn, giving more power to platforms to probe what you post before it hits the feed.

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Per the The Independent, Members of the European Parliament recently voted for controversial articles 11 and 13. The latter lays out guidelines for technology platforms to inspect what you post for any possible copyright infringement.

That sounds like social media and tech companies flexing even more of an all-seeing eye up in your content. But what if that dope meme you just created contains copyrighted material in the form of a movie clip, song or screenshot?

If the new rules that “force internet companies to introduce stringent new automated checks that content must pass before they are posted to platforms like Twitter and Facebook” come into play, your meme could be doomed.

Think about it. What if that Is This A Pigeon meme was flagged for copyright infringement before it even took flight? The screenshot’s swiped from a ’90s anime called The Brave Fighter Of Sun Fighbird that’s presumably copyrighted.

And the so-called “upload filters” would affect pretty much every social media app, warn certain European Parliament members. That could mean some awesomely funny (and pretty harmless memes) get the boot for copyright’s sake.

“The [EP] endorses #uploadfilters for all but the smallest sites … Anything you want to publish will need to first be approved by these filters,” says MEP Julia Reda. “Perfectly legal content like parodies & memes will be caught in the crosshairs.”

Is this a bridge too far for online copyright rules? What’s your favorite meme that highlights some probably copyrighted content? Sound off in the comments and let us know what you would do without awesome internet memes.

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