Let the greatest ever summer of internet memes begin! Having stared down the barrel of an EU legislative gun , memes have had a stay of execution! Memes haven’t been outlawed and will remain on the right side of the law, at least until another EU vote in September. Take your memes, go forth, and multiply. Make this the summer of meme love, for it could be the last.

Why did European Wikipedia shut down in protest?

The recent vote in the EU, if ratified, would have made digital platforms liable for any copyrighted content posted on them. This would have meant the likes of Reddit, Twitter, and even Wikipedia being liable should any of their users have posted any copyrighted material. Fortunately, the proposed law was voted down by 318 MEPs (Members of the European Parliament) to 278. The law will now be revised before coming back to the European Parliament in September.

Josh Brolin shares a special message to r/thanosdidnothingwrong from marvelstudios

Internet jokes like this, which started as a small joke, but grew to gain the attention and support of the original copyright holders were under threat.

This might sound like something silly, but a lot of people were taking it seriously and accordingly they are very happy about how the vote went on Thursday. The sheer size of the EU means that it has enough legislative power to pass laws that will affect the whole world. Some European countries had to live without Wikipedia for a few days as their local sites were shut down in protest at the proposed vote. As well as the obvious effect that the law would have had on Wikipedia itself, the issue was seen as an attack on a free internet and free speech itself.

The internet as we know it then has been given a reprieve but could be back on the chopping block in September. If you live in the EU, and you want to keep putting pressure on your MEP to ensure laws that could fundamentally change the internet are not passed, you can do so by going to this website .

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