What is EU Copyright Directive?

It is the EU's 2019 Directive on Copyright in the Digital Single Market, which made large platforms liable for copyrighted content uploaded by users under its now-renumbered Article 17, formerly Article 13.

Where did EU Copyright Directive come from?

Commissioner Günther Oettinger presented the proposal to the European Commission on September 14, 2016, and it moved through three Parliament votes before final approval in 2019.

What does EU Copyright Directive mean in meme form?

Online users called Article 13 the "meme ban" and its upload filters "censorship machines" because the filters could not reliably distinguish parody from infringement.

How do you use EU Copyright Directive memes?

Posts typically paired a familiar reaction template, like Drakeposting or a crying cat, with a mock caption mourning memes or dodging the filter.

Is EU Copyright Directive still popular?

The protest format mostly ended after final approval on March 26, 2019 and is no longer actively posted, though the policy itself still shapes platform rules.

What are Articles 11 and 13?

Article 11 is the "link tax" requiring aggregators to license news snippets, and Article 13 made platforms liable for user-uploaded copyrighted content.

Why did people call it a meme ban?

Critics argued automated filters could not separate parody and quotation from infringement, so templates built on film or music stills might be blocked at upload.

Did the final directive protect memes?

Rapporteur Axel Voss said amendments protected "quotation, criticism, review, caricature, parody or pastiche," covering memes and GIFs.

What role did Twitch play in the protest?

CEO Emmett Shear emailed creators on December 5, 2018, and later appeared in a Twitch MarioKart stream with MEP Julia Reda in February 2019.

Who were the loudest critics?

MEP Julia Reda (@Senficon), YouTubers Count Dankula and Grandayy, EDRi, and companies including Google, Twitch, Reddit, Medium and Vimeo campaigned under #SaveYourInternet.

EU Copyright Directive

2018event / protest memedead

Published November 12, 2026

Article 13 of the EU Copyright Directive triggered a sprawling internet protest from 2018 through 2019, with critics branding the proposal a "meme ban" and labeling its upload filters "censorship machines." Reddit and Twitter users responded with mock-funeral image macros, Drakeposting edits and crying-cat captions mourning memes they thought the law would erase. By March 26, 2019, the European Parliament approved the directive 348 to 274, closing out one of the most meme-driven policy fights in EU history1.

protest memes copyright controversy memes european memes platform censorship memes moral panic memes

Overview

EU Copyright Directive / Article 13 is the nickname internet users gave to a package of proposed EU copyright rules that would make large user-generated-content platforms directly liable for copyrighted material their users upload2. Critics argued the only practical way to comply was automated upload filters, which they called "censorship machines" because the filters could not reliably tell parody or quotation apart from infringement4. A second clause, Article 11, nicknamed the "link tax," would force news aggregators to license snippets and thumbnails from publishers6.

Once the "meme ban" framing took hold around June 2018, the protest looked less like a policy debate and more like a format contest. Posts often paired a stock reaction template with a one-liner mourning memes, such as a Drakeposting panel rejecting "the content you are trying to view" or a Hackerman image joking about VPN use5. The tone sat somewhere between sarcasm and genuine panic, since many of the posters assumed their own daily output would be caught by the filters.

Coverage escalated in parallel with each parliamentary vote. Wired, The Verge and the EU-focused press ran explainers about how a blanket filter could affect everyday uploads7 2, while platforms including Twitch, Reddit, Patreon, Medium and Vimeo joined a campaign called #SaveYourInternet urging followers to call their MEPs10.

Gallery

Origin & Background

Platform

Reddit / Twitter (viral spread)

Date

2018

The legislative catalyst arrived on September 14, 2016, when then-Digital Commissioner Günther Oettinger presented a copyright-reform package to the European Commission that eventually became the Directive on Copyright in the Digital Single Market5. Early opposition came from digital-rights groups: on May 25, 2018, the European Council agreed its negotiating position, and European Digital Rights (EDRi) warned the draft would authorize "mass monitoring and filtering of internet uploads"3. MEP Julia Reda of the Pirate Party popularized the "censorship machines" label on her campaigning site around the same window4.

The meme format itself emerged in the weeks before the June 2018 JURI committee vote. On May 31, 2018, Twitter user @asta_fish warned that treating text-and-data mining as copyright-restricted would hit "small languages, such as Icelandic or Faroese"8. The earliest cataloged image-macro post is a Drakeposting variation by Redditor the_numbers_mason_ on June 12, 2018 in r/dankmemes, captioned "The content you are trying to view has been banned by the EU copyright law" and scoring more than 8,900 points11 5.

How It Spread

Momentum built around three parliamentary flashpoints. On June 20, 2018, the Legal Affairs committee (JURI) approved Articles 11 and 13 by a 15 to 10 margin, and Julia Reda (@Senficon) tweeted the result with the hashtags #Article13 and #SaveYourInternet, picking up more than 1,000 retweets within a day9. On July 5, 2018, the full Parliament rejected the mandate 318 to 278 with 31 abstentions, prompting a second wave of posts, this time celebratory, across r/pcmasterrace, r/PrequelMemes and r/dankmemes5. The reprieve was short: on September 12, 2018, the Parliament approved an updated text 438 to 226, and YouTuber Count Dankula posted a lament titled "Article 13 Passed"12.

Brands and platforms joined after the September vote. On December 5, 2018, Twitch CEO Emmett Shear emailed creators that Article 13 would damage "commentary, criticism, fan works, and parodies" on the platform10. The next day, Google News VP Richard Gingras argued in a company blog post that Article 11 would be "bad for small publishers, European consumers and online services"6. In January 2019, Google circulated mock screenshots of a news search results page stripped of headlines and images, which EDRi's Diego Naranjo told The Verge was not an "unreasonable interpretation of the legislation"2. Julia Reda and MEP Tiemo Wolken even livestreamed a MarioKart match on Twitch on February 26, 2019 to talk through the text with viewers13.

On March 26, 2019, the final Parliament vote passed 348 to 274 with 36 abstentions1. Rapporteur Axel Voss said amendments now "doubly guarantee" protection for "the 'meme', the 'gif', the 'snippet'"5. Opponents did not accept that framing. Reda tweeted "Dark day for internet freedom" to more than 8,000 retweets, and user @carolsgwen urged followers in all caps to vote in the May 23 to 26 European elections14. YouTuber Grandayy posted the vote margin and noted an amendment to improve the text had failed by just five votes15.

Timeline

2016-09-14

Commissioner Günther Oettinger presents the copyright reform package to the European Commission.