The Italian encyclopedia page is redirecting users to a statement explaining the decision.

The Wikipedia of Italy has decided to protest against the Copyright Law that was proposed in the European Union last month, blocking access to its pages and redirecting the citizens to a statement of their own on the subject.

“On July 5, the Plenary of the European Parliament will vote on whether to proceed with a proposed copyright directive which, if approved, will significantly damage the opening of the internet. Instead of updating copyright laws in Europe and promoting the participation of all citizens in the information society, the directive threatens online freedom and creates obstacles in accessing the internet, imposing new barriers, filters and restrictions. If the proposal is approved in its current form, it will be impossible to share news articles on social networks or find them on a search engine. Wikipedia itself will be at risk, “the statement said.

As Gizmodo notes, the main reasons for the criticisms relate to two articles of the proposed Copyright Law, namely Article 13 and Article 11. While the first prevents copyright-protected content from being shared on any platform ( which would endanger memes made based on movies or series), the second would apply rates to sites with links to news or use excerpts of the same news.

It is expected that between today and tomorrow (voting day) more protests will take place and more internet advocates will come to the public in their current state.