Deputy Premier and Labour and
Industry Minister Luigi Di Maio on Wednesday blasted the
European Parliament's approval of a controversial overhaul of
copyright law that could force tech giants to install filters
that prevent copyright-protected content from being uploaded.
"An all-European disgrace," said the leader of the
anti-establishment 5-Star Movement (M5S).
"The European Parliament has introduced the censorship of
content of Internet users. We are officially entering a scenario
worthy of Orwell's Big Brother".
He said the M5S would fight "in the negotiations between
governments, at the European parliament and on the European
Commission" against the controversial directive.
He vowed that "at the next vote in the assembly the directive
will be blocked again".
Lawmakers in Strasbourg voted on Wednesday in favor of the
European Union's revamped directive, which is aimed at bringing
the bloc's rules on copyright into the 21st century.
The copyright reform was passed with 438 votes in favour, 226
against and 39 abstentions.
Critics say such a law would normalize censorship and
restrict Internet freedom, preventing users from being able to
post content ranging from memes to links to articles from news
outlets.
The EU copyright battle pits media companies and musicians
against tech giants over the widespread availability of their
content online. Supporters of the law argue that people and
companies in the creative industries are being starved of
revenues lost to the sharing of their intellectual property on
digital platforms.
It could particularly impact platforms like Facebook and
Google's YouTube, which rely on user-generated content. Google
has been accused of lobbying aggressively to prevent the
directive from being passed into law.
The issue has drawn attention from notable figures in both
the tech and media worlds, including internet pioneer Tim
Berners-Lee, Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales, former Beatles star
Paul McCartney and French DJ David Guetta.
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