Article 17 of the European Directive protects products of intellectual property. It binds online platforms to get permission to publish content from the authors and reward them if need be.
If the author did not grant permission to publish, the platform could be held responsible and penalized in the form of a fine. YouTube, Facebook, Vimeo, and other large platforms are liable if other users and third parties post an author's content without permission.
Users can upload copyright content if they:
- Use citations and provide the correct reference to the author;
- Mention the created content within a review, critique, or parody;
- Create their content based on it, e.g., caricatures, parodies, and spin-offs.
Spin-offs and parodies are subject to debate. Article 17 stipulates that Europe is banning memes; however, the EU Commission stated on
Twitter that memes are allowed.Online platforms can be indemnified of responsibility only in cases where:
- They were able to prove that they took all the necessary steps to acquire permission;
- They promptly deleted all content after the rightsholder complained of illegal use.
When posting content, EU citizens must adhere to article 17 of the EU Copyright Directive, which means that every publication or post on social media must include the authorship and reference the origin.
If a copyright infringement is detected, the user will be penalized in the form of the following:
- A legal case, fine;
- Lifetime ban of the user's account.