The European Union wants to tax citizens who criticize mainstream media outlets and politicians online, according to a draconian new law being proposed.
On June 20, unelected EU lawmakers will vote on its proposed Copyright Reform law, including Article 11 (the “link tax”) that would “force anyone using snippets of journalistic online content to get a license for the publisher first — essentially outlawing current business models of most aggregators and news apps.”
Infowars.com reports:
In other words, Article 11 outlaws fair use reporting of news articles – such as this article – and critics even warn that the vagueness of Article 11 could ban websites like the Drudge Report from even linking to news articles, just as Matt Drudge warned nearly three years ago.
BoingBoing.net goes into even further detail:
Article 11’s link tax allows news sites to decide who gets to link to them, meaning that they can exclude their critics.
With election cycles dominated by hoaxes and fake news, the right of a news publisher to decide who gets to criticize it is carte blanche to lie and spin.
“That will end (it) for me – fine – I’ve had a hell of a run,” said Drudge, warning web users were being forced into the Internet “ghettos” of Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
“This is ghetto, this is corporate, they’re taking your energy and you’re getting nothing in return – nothing!”
* This article was automatically syndicated and expanded from YourNewsWire.
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