User blog:EarthlingnAkumi/EU's Article 13 Explained

Hello everyone! My name is EarthlingnAkumi here on FANDOM, but you may know me as AkumiNari, EarthlingAtmosphere, or other aliases on other sites. I'm here today to talk about the new EU internet law, Article 13. You may have already seen TOR's blog about it, but I wanted to explain Article 13 in more depth and answer some FAQ I saw in the comments.

Without further ado, let's get started.

So what is Article 13 anyway?
Article 13 is a new European Union internet law in which users can not use any information without it being verified first on any site. This is bad for many reasons - this means sites like the one you're on RIGHT NOW, Wikipedia, among others, will forced to be censored.

How does this affect me on FANDOM and other encyclopedic websites?
On FANDOM, for example, Staff members will have to verify every single edit made on the platform. Now this is a large problem. There are not enough staff members to accommodate the large, growing amount of wikis on here. The only other choice they have, if this law gets passed, is FANDOM shutting down.

How does this affect me on non-encyclopedic websites?
This not only affects encyclopedic websites, but also other content creators, like me, who do art and music. Here are just a few professions where this law could possibly put them out of a job.


 * Artists: Works like fanart without permission can be taken down without notice.
 * Musicians: Works like covers, remixes, arranges, etc. without permission can be taken down without notice.
 * Dancers: Creating a choreography to a song you don't own without permission can be taken down without notice.
 * Bloggers & Journalists: Writing articles and using other's sources, (even while citing!) without permission can be taken down without notice.

And that's not even the tip of the iceberg. Just keep in mind that this law affects all sites everywhere.

But I don't live in the EU! Why should I care?
Well, companies don't know where their contributions are coming from. Especially with the uses of VPNs or proxies. This means they'll have to police everyone's content, meaning you'll be affected too.

And if I sounded confusing with that, this comment by Brandon Rhea sums it up.

So, what can I do to help?
Well, if you live in the EU, you can call your local lawmakers to oppose this change. Make sure to give reasons why too.

If you don't live in the EU, you can share blogs like this one around, write your own, and write up on social media why Article 13 is bad and why it affects you.

I hope this helped you all have a better understanding of Article 13. If you have questions, please ask down below and I will do my best to answer! ^^

Updates: none yet.