For the past few years, memes have kept many of us entertained but a new European Union law could ban the hilarious images that connect us all.
The new copyright law which is being proposed by the European Union intends to protect those who upload their material and content online.
However, digital rights campaigners are stating that the new law will demand that “all content uploaded to the internet to be monitored and potentially deleted if a likeness to existing copyright is protected”.
Under the new law, editing images from popular TV shows and films to create memes may count as a breach of law and could possibly be removed.
Campaign group, Save Your Internet, argue that the copyright legislation – Article 13 – would “destroy the internet as we know it”.
“Should Article 13 of the Copyright Directive be adopted, it will impose widespread censorship of all the content you share online.”
Campaigners are arguing that Article 13 would prohibit the sharing of parodied content, such as memes, as they are often taken from another party’s original material.
In a statement to Sky News, a spokesperson for the European Commission said “The idea behind our copyright proposals is that people should be able to make a living from their creative ideas.
“They help to inform authors when their works are used online and to prevent that these works are used by major online platforms without their author’s consent”.
The European Parliament will vote on Article 13 later on this month.