Article 13: banning memes – Tom Pritchard

5 February 2019 | OPINION

Thank God we are leaving. That has been the feelings amongst British eurosceptics. Over the past few months however, this has been extended to more people from varying demographics. In part due to ‘Article 13’. 

The Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on Copyright in the Digital Single Market, to give it its full name, has not just been the talk of Strasbourg and the European hierarchy but also of those that will be adversely affected which is overwhelming young people who use platforms such as YouTube or Twitter. Article 13 of the directive will effectively introduce a ban on memes. With responsibility of the enforcement of copyright shifting from the discretion of the publisher to the platforms themselves, if implemented and enforced legally, could lead to platforms such as Twitter and Facebook removing what would be considered illegal content from their platforms. 

When I sat in the committee in the European Parliament, I could sense a deluded sense of self-righteousness. The trouble is, they think that the best way to show us that they are effective is by legislating. Being a libertarian I would take the opposite view. The less legislation there is; often the freer and more prosperous the society.

Opposition to the directive mainly comes from Eurosceptic groups in the European Parliament: the European Conservatives and Reformists as well as EFDD – the group that Nigel Farage leads. These groups take an oppositional view to the directive because, like myself, they are to the right of politics. This means that they tend to oppose non-essential intervention from government.

I oppose this measure for two  reasons. One of which is that it targets young people in particular which seems as though they are stabbing their own support base in the back. At a time when they should want to make the pro-EU side in the UK strong, it seems rather foolish to target the very demographic that voted remain in such strong numbers.

For this reason, Labour are missing a trick by not condemning this policy loudly and clearly. If they were to, they would increase their vote amongst young people even more. If they don’t, the Conservatives could capitalise on it and possibly  start reaching the younger demographic. This is an opportunity for the Conservatives to really prove that they are committed to limited government and opposed to the overreaching hand of the European Union.

The libertarian principle, as previously mentioned, is yet another reason as to why I oppose this ghastly directive. If Government intervenes too much in terms of taxation, spending or legislation, it poses a threat to our freedom. The last time the European Parliament assessed how big the body of European law is was in 2005 and there were 170,000 pages of active legislation. It is now estimated that it now stands at around 400,000 pages or perhaps even more than that. This new directive will add to that which is already too large and inviolable.

Thus, it is in everyone’s interest that this directive is dropped and does not become policy of the European institutions, including that of the European Union itself.

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Tom Pritchard is the Branch Secretary for the Tunbridge Wells Conservative Association. Follow him on Twitter @ClowesPritchard