Update: The European Parliament voted to pass the Voss version of the Copyright Directive. Stay tuned to our channels for updates and future action.

We did it once…

Maybe you've heard about the new Copyright Directive, and especially Article 13, the part of the directive that would limit our free speech.

Maybe you were one of the 43,000 who sent our letter, made a phone call, protested or raised your voice in any other way against Article 13 when the European Parliament held its vote in July.

As a result of people coming together and making their concerns heard, the European Parliament voted against a version of Article 13 that would have imposed content filtering and monitoring obligations on internet services, severely limiting our free speech and privacy.

…now let’s do it again.

Until 5 September, members of the European Parliament are able to suggest new versions of Article 13. The whole Parliament will then vote on the new proposals on 12 September.

That means it’s time to raise your voice again and ask your elected representatives to include safeguards into Article 13 in order to protect our fundamental rights.

We all know that copyright protects important interests. But citizens' fundamental rights must be respected, too, and a fair balance must be struck between protecting the rights of copyright holders and protecting the rights of the people.

Join our campaign and demand a copyright law that safeguards your online free speech!

What comes next?

5 September - Deadline for the members of the European Parliament to table amendments. As soon as we learn exactly what is in the new proposals, we will update you.

12 September - The European Parliament will vote on a new version of the Copyright Directive to move forward on.

End of September - After the new version is approved by the EP, negotiations will take place between the Parliament, the European Commission and the Council to reach an agreement on a final, unified Copyright Directive.

There is no time limit for this phase, called the trialogue, but it is very likely that they agree by the end of 2018 or beginning of 2019, because there are elections in May 2019.

Are you affected by Article 13?

If you make home videos or memes, if you record yourself playing video games, if you have a gift for karaoke that you want to share with the world – in all of these examples and so many more, the new copyright regulation could have a dramatic impact on your life.

That's because all of these materials could be censored by bots and blocked from being uploaded, severely restricting your ability to share – and see – so many things on the internet. Do you want to better understand what is at stake? Watch this video.

But it's not too late to reshape Article 13 to include proper safeguards. Some members of the European Parliament want to side with big copyright holders and spare themselves from putting in the effort to get it right and come up with a bill that protects both copyright holders and people’s free speech. Others are working for a better regulation.

Copyright and free speech are not mutually exclusive – we can protect both at the same time.

By including these six safeguards into Article 13, members of the European Parliament could successfully protect the interests of everyone.

Join our campaign now and send our email to all members of the European Parliament with a single click.

Here is the email you can send to EU representatives with just a single click →

Read what has happened so far

‣EP Votes Against Copyright Reform With Built-in Censorship Machine

Free-Speech Pitfall Avoided in EU Copyright Reform
‣ Monitoring and Filtering of Internet Content is Unacceptable

Want to learn more about what makes the draft copyright law so bad? Here are some articles

‣ Copyright: 6 Safeguards to Protect Free Speech

What’s Wrong With the EU’s Filtering Solutions?
‣ Our Freedom of Speech Is Threatened by the European Copyright Proposal
‣ Estonian EU Presidency calls for massive internet filtering

Copyright Reform Interview With Liberties Expert

Do you want to do more? Call your MEP for free and share your concerns