Wikipedia suspends services in several European languages ​​in protest against copyright directive

Wikipedia has suspended its versions in several European languages ​​in protest against EU plans to pass a directive on online copyright protection.

When visiting any page in Italian, Spanish, Latvian, Estonian, or Polish, the user is shown a banner stating that if the directive is adopted, the exchange of information on the Internet will be difficult, and Wikipedia itself will be at risk of being closed.

Wikipedia in English, German and French continues to operate. Local editor communities decide whether to join the boycott.

• The European Parliament will consider the directive on online copyright protection on July 5. The two articles that most concern its opponents are Article 11, which requires online platforms to pay authors when their content is linked to, and Article 13, which makes platforms responsible for copyright infringement by users. Activists fear that Article 13 will force websites, in particular, to remove user-generated content, such as memes using frames from films or parodies.