Twitch streamer Forsen reveals his Article 13 escape plan
Popular Swedish Twitch streamer Sebastian ‘Forsen’ Fors has reacted to the news of the European Parliament’s approval of Article 13 by suggesting he may leave Europe.
The European Parliament met on Tuesday, March 26 and voted in favor of Article 13 and Article 11, which directly affects copyright regulation on the internet.
Article 13, which has been renamed Article 17 following the successful vote, has been incredibly unpopular among the online community, as many believe it will greatly impede the use of the open internet. The new regulations will require commercial sites and applications to have licenses for any copyrighted material uploaded to their site, whether it was uploaded by the company itself or by users.
Protests have been held across Europe campaigning against Article 13.While many in the music industry are excited to see this introduced, the online streaming community is not, and Forsen has made his distaste clear by telling his stream that he is considering moving to escape Article 13.
When asked if he has a solution to Article 13 and avoiding the regulations that it may impose, Forsen gave another self-explanatory answer.
“Just move,” the former Starcraft pro told his fans. “Just move. Move out of the EU.”
While discussing the regulations, a member of his chat told him he should rent Chance ‘Sodapoppin’ Morris’ house in Austin, Texas, to which Fors replied: “It’s not easy getting a work visa in the [United] States, so I might have to pull some favors and that will kind of decide where I live.”
The fact that getting the visa may prove to be an issue hasn’t appeared to deter the Swede, who went on to tell his viewers: “I might move to the [United] States.”
Many major websites could be affected by Article 13, including YouTube, Reddit, Twitter and Twitch. Google have stated that the final version of Article 13 that went through parliament was “an improvement,” but they remain concerned as it could still have “unintended consequences that may harm Europe’s creative and digital economy.”
It seems that Forsen won’t be affected though, as he plans to set sail for greener pastures should these issues arise.