YouTube creators are still trying to fight the European copyright vote.

For months, YouTube creators have been trying to warn viewers about the ramifications of Europe's new copyright directive. 

And after a vote in the EU approved the directive one of the most vocal activists leading a charge against the directive, Dr. Grandayy, says it's time for YouTubers to take copyright activism seriously.

"The reaction from YouTubers has been virtually unanimous against Article 13," he told The Verge Grandayy, a creator with more than 2 million subscribers who is best known for his memes . 

" The sad thing is that we YouTubers don't have pressure groups or unions that can fight for us and talk to politicians directly for us." 

"Most politicians have no idea of the issues YouTubers face with copyright, or what kind of content the typical YouTuber produces."

The new EU Copyright Directive was intended as an update to the EU's increasingly outdated copyright rules, but it has included a number of controversial provisions as part of a broader bill.

 One of its most contested amendments is Article 13 (now known as Article 17), which holds platforms liable for any uploaded content that violates copyright rules.

 The creators are concerned that YouTube's content identification system The new system, which automatically flags and removes content, will become more aggressive in response to the new requirements.

With Article 13, things can only get worse.

The recent vote means that European Union member states have two years to pass the directive into law.

 It's hard to say how member states will interpret the rules, and it's even harder to say how YouTube will respond to national laws, but YouTubers is not optimistic.

Philip DeFranco, one of the platform's most popular commentators, addressed the voting on his episode of The Philip DeFranco Show . DeFranco suggested that if "YouTube is now the company that is going to take the monetary hit, you can be absolutely sure they will protect themselves."

DeFranco added that "it's not surprising" that if someone, be it the European Union or a specific company: if it were to launch after YouTube, the company would simply start "blocking content."

"If I created a situation where my videos could be removed due to some law in the EU, I will just block my content from the EU," DeFranco said. "I wouldn't like it, but that would be my new reality."

YouTube executives appear to share those concerns. CEO Susan Wojcicki tweeted that the amendment to remove Article 13 only failed by a few votes (five, to be specific) "and it could have been different."

A YouTube spokesperson added in an email to. The important thing is that "the details are important, and we look forward to working with policy makers, publishers, creators and rights holders as EU member states move to implement these new rules."

Part of the issue, according to Grandayy, is that "most of the politicians working on the board didn't even know what memes were before all the criticism started coming in."

Grandayy has met with two members of Parliament to address concerns within the community, and he is hopeful that lawmakers are beginning to realize the implications of the new rules.

It's a similar stance to YouTube's own executives who tweeted their hope to work with MPs to address the company's biggest concerns.
THE INTERNET WILL NO LONGER BE THE SAME.

It's one of the few issues where YouTube creators and executives are fighting together, and that cohesion is not lost on creators like Grandayy. 

He acknowledges that YouTube's response has been "pretty good so far," and added that company executives are not "overly negative, but are providing constructive criticism by suggesting improvements to the text rather than just saying it's bad and should be scrapped." overall ".

Grandayy suggested that, if anything, people within the YouTube community feel that YouTube's executive team hasn't taken a tough enough stance, but that's a good thing.

"Companies lobbying for Article 13 are already spreading lies that all the criticism is just astroturfing by Google," Grandayy said.

 "I think the less negative YouTube is, the clearer it is that all the criticism is genuine and comes from the people themselves."