Google criticises lack of clarity in EU copyright directive

Responding to the finalised text for the EU copyright directive, Google says that rather than helping Europe's creative and digital economy, it will hold it back, citing vague wording over copyright protection.

Posting on the official Google blog, Kent Walker, SVP of global affairs for Google, said that than danger was in the directive creating "vague, untested requirements, which are likely to result in online services over-blocking content to limit legal risk". Specifically, Walker voiced his concern for YouTube, which would be left in the dark over whether uploads containing unclear, partial, or disputed copyright information would leave them open to legal threats.

“The text needs to be clearer to reduce legal uncertainty about how rights holders should co-operate to identify their content – giving platforms reference files, as well as copyright notices with key information (like URLs) to facilitate identifying and removing infringing content, while not removing legitimate material,” he explained.

His said the knock-on effect for content creators and users of such services would be the mass blocking of much content for precautionary measures.