ENPA reacts to Wikipedia hostile campaign against Copyright

The vote on the mandate on the copyright file is most likely to take place this Thursday in the European Parliament.

Platforms have been particularly active in using insidious means to prevent this reform which would push them to obtain licenses with rightsholders for the use of the protected works they display.

Today, Wikipedia has been encouraging its users on its main page to contact their MEPs to prevent to “disrupt the open internet”. The Italian branch of Wikipedia has even black-outed access to its pages stating that “it may be impossible to share a newspaper article on social networks or find it on a search engine. Wikipedia itself would risk to close.”

The fact is the report that will soon be voted upon establishes a right to press publishers (article 11.1a) which specifically excludes uses by individuals and hyperlinks from the scope of the right. As for Wikipedia’s “risk to close”, the report (Art. 2.4.a) specifically states that online encyclopedia are not covered by the directive.

This is therefore another purely bad-faith attempt to discredit a proposed directive aiming at re-balancing a digital ecosystem dominated by platforms.

Carlo Perrone, ENPA President said: “this vote goes far beyond copyright and reflects a deeper debate which covers not only on press freedom but also the functioning of our democracies which are threatened not only through the economic sustainability of the press but also by inacceptable misleading campaigns led by platforms to influence MEPs”.