The divisive Article 13 did not find support from YouTube CEO who warned that the company would have to block uploads from EU countries if the Article was adopted.
The Article would have been a large financial burden for YouTube, making them liable for all copyright-infringing content on their service. This motivated CEO Susan Wojcicki to suggest the company wouldn't want this financial burden, and would instead stop EU citizens uploading content.
However it seems now this position has been reversed. Julia Reda, MEP for the German Pirate Party, reported that Wojcicki has made statements to suggest that YouTube would support upload filters for video content. This would build on the platform's existing ContentID system and prevent any copyrighted material being uploaded.
This would be a huge blow to the many YouTubers who perform music, review films, or in other ways use assets that belong to others.
YouTube's stance on upload filters makes sense since, as Reda explains, YouTube already has this software. If upload filters were mandatory for video services, YouTube would be ahead of the competition with its advanced system and would even be able to sell this software to its competitors.
What is the next step for Article 13?
On 5 July, MEPs rejected the copyright directive. After the vote, the legislation will be debated in closed-door discussions between EU legislators and member states.
The impending vote on the legislation will be held during afternoon plenary session on Wednesday, 12 September.
A final note in terms of the UK is the uncertainty of what Brexit will mean for the directive. The directive is intended to act on copyright in the digital single market, so presumably, any impact on the UK would hinge on the country's relationship with that entity. In a nutshell, it's too soon to tell and will rely on the larger outcomes of the Brexit negotiations.
//_o\ idk