Stop Killing the Internet
The website "Stop Killing the Internet" is a campaign opposing changes to internet regulation that it argues would harm the open internet. It calls for the protection of net neutrality and the prevention of policies that allow internet service providers to control online content and access.
Background
- This is the homepage of "Stop Killing the Internet," a campaign launched by a coalition of European digital rights groups (including EDRi, Access Now, and others) to oppose "Article 13" (now Article 17) of the EU Copyright Directive.
- That directive, approved in 2019, requires large platforms like YouTube and Facebook to filter user uploads for copyrighted content — effectively mandating automated upload filters, which critics say will break the internet's open nature, harm free speech, and kill memes, remixes, and other legal user-generated content.
- The site frames this as an existential threat to the internet as we know it, warning that "upload filters" will destroy how the internet works for everyone by forcing platforms to block content preemptively rather than risk liability.
- The campaign is calling on EU member states and the European Parliament to reject or amend the directive before it becomes final law.