YouTube creators are still trying to fight back against European copyright vote

For months, YouTube creators have been trying to warn viewers about the ramifications of Europe’s new copyright directive. And after an EU vote approved the directive, one of the most vocal activists leading a charge against the directive, Dr. Grandayy, says it’s time for YouTubers to get serious about copyright activism.

“The reaction of YouTubers has been virtually unanimous against Article 13,” Grandayy, a creator with more than 2 million subscribers who is best known for his memes, told The Verge. “The sad thing is that us YouTubers have no lobby groups or unions that can fight for us and speak to politicians directly for us. Most politicians have no idea about the troubles YouTubers face with copyright, or what type of content the typical YouTuber even produces.”

The EU’s new Copyright Directive was intended as an update to the EU’s increasingly outdated copyright rules, but a number of controversial provisions have been included as part of the broader bill. One of its most contested amendments is Article 13 (now known as Article 17), which holds platforms liable for any uploaded content that violates copyright rules. Creators are worried that YouTube’s Content ID system, which automatically flags and remove content, will become more aggressive in response to the new requirements.

The recent vote means that European Union member states have two years to translate the directive into law. It’s hard to say how member states will interpret the rules, and it’s even harder to say how YouTube will respond to the national laws, but YouTubers aren’t optimistic.

Philip DeFranco, one of the platform’s most popular commentators, addressed the vote on his episode of The Philip DeFranco Show. DeFranco suggested that if “YouTube is now the company that’s going to take the monetary hit, you can be damn sure they’re going to protect themselves.” DeFranco added that “it’s not surprising” that if someone — whether it be the European Union or a specific company — were to go after YouTube, the company would just start “blocking content.”

“If it created a situation where my videos might get taken down because of some law in the EU, I’m just going to block my content from the EU,” DeFranco said. “I wouldn’t want to, but that would be my new reality.”

YouTube executives seem to share those concerns. CEO Susan Wojcicki tweeted that the amendment to delete Article 13 only failed by a few votes (five, to be specific) “and could have gone differently.” She added this is “just the beginning.” A YouTube spokesperson added in an email to The Verge that “details matter, and we look forward to working with policy makers, publishers, creators and rights holders as EU member states move to implement these new rules.”

Part of the issue, according to Grandayy, is that “most politicians working on the directive didn’t even know what ‘memes’ were before all the criticism starts coming in.” Grandayy has met with two members of Parliament to address concerns within the community, and he is hopeful that lawmakers are starting to realize the implications of the new rules. It’s a similar stance to YouTube’s own executives who tweeted their hope of working with members of Parliament to address the company’s biggest concerns.

It’s one of the few issues that YouTube’s creators and executives are fighting together on, and that cohesiveness isn’t lost on creators like Grandayy. He recognizes that YouTube’s response has been “pretty good so far,” adding that the company’s executives aren’t “being too negative, and are instead providing constructive criticism by suggesting improvements to the text rather than just saying it is bad and should be scrapped altogether.” Grandayy suggested that, if anything, people within the YouTube community feel like YouTube’s executive team hasn’t taken a hard enough stance, but that’s a good thing.

“The companies lobbying in favor of Article 13 are already spreading lies that all criticism is just astroturfing by Google,” Grandayy said. “I think the less negative YouTube us, the clearer it becomes that all the criticism is genuine and coming from the people themselves.”

Copyright woes aren’t new to the YouTube community. Creators have fought against manual copyright claims from companies that have nothing to do with the content in question, false copyright strikes from trolls, and ardent claims from record labels over the tiniest clip being used. As Grandayy told The Verge, “My experience [with copyright] has been terrible, and it’s only getting worse.” He’s hoping that Article 13 is a wake-up call to other creators — and the world at large — to fight back against a threat to their very creativity.

“Freedom of expression and creativity on the internet is already being thwarted by the music labels right now,” Grandayy said. “At this point, I have pretty much stopped making memes or parodies out of mainstream songs. And it’s not just me.”