New EU's Copyright Law Will Stop You From Using Someone's Screenshot, memes, GIFs Without their Permission.

Tech companies and citizens alike are not impressed as the EU's controversial Copyright Law is now due for final vote on a key piece of legislation that could have a significant impact on the future of the internet as Europeans know it.

Article 13, which will govern the way copyrighted content is uploaded to the internet -- has many in the tech community throwing their hands up in despair.

Article 13 dictates that anyone sharing copyrighted content must get permission from rights owners, or at least have made the best possible effort to get permission, before doing so. But this doesn't just mean full songs, movies, TV shows and images. It also means gifs, memes and screenshots.

In order to enforce this, internet platforms would be forced to use upload filters to evaluate material before it goes online. Even the wealthiest online services such as Facebook and YouTube, which have spent years developing this technology, haven't been able to prove that pre-moderation of content is a foolproof method for preventing content from surfacing online that shouldn't be there.