European Commission, Proposal for a Directive on Copyright in the Digital Single Market, COM(2016) 593 final, September 14, 2016

The draft directive aims—inter alia—to close the so called “value gap” between Internet platforms and copyright holders.  To that end, the proposed reform includes a provision that would impact platform operations. It requires intermediaries “that store and provide access to large amounts of works . . . uploaded by their users” to take appropriate and proportionate “measures to ensure the functioning of agreements concluded with rightholders for the use of their works” or “to prevent the availability on their services of such works,” including through “the use of effective content identification technologies.”