Last September, the European Parliament voted in favor of the Copyright Directive: a sweeping piece of legislation intended to update copyright for the internet age, but which critics said would fundamentally break the internet. Now, as negotiations over the directive’s final wording draw to a close, Google has issued a warning about the damage the directive might do in an unusual format: an empty search results page.
To be more precise, it’s an empty search results page for news. One of the most controversial segments of the Copyright Directive is Article 11, which gives publishers the right to demand paid licenses for using snippets of their stories. From Google’s point of view that gives it two choices: start paying for licenses or...