David Kaye, UN Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression has urged the European Union to bring its Copyright Directive into line with international standards on freedom of expression.

“Article 13 of the proposed Directive appears destined to drive internet platforms toward monitoring and restriction of user-generated content even at the point of upload. Such sweeping pressure for pre-publication filtering is neither a necessary nor proportionate response to copyright infringement online” Kaye said, and added:  “Misplaced confidence in filtering technologies to make nuanced distinctions between copyright violations and legitimate uses of protected material would escalate the risk of error and censorship. Who would bear the brunt of this practice? Typically it would be creators and artists, who lack the resources to litigate such claims.”

Source: United Nations Human Rights Office of the High Commissioner (OHCHR)