General Discussion
The European Parliament is tomorrow voting on a proposal that would affect virtually every website, including this one. If the proposal passes it will be illegal to link to other websites without first obtaining permission, and possibly having to pay for the privilege of linking to the site.
This transport blogger explains the situation:
This will drastically change the way people post online.
Articles 11 and 13 were today passed by the EU parliament, be prepared for big changes in the way the internet operates. The inventor of the internet, Britain's Tim Berners-Lee, has campaigned against these changes, so I would hardly describe it as "desperate".
I think it is mainly aimed at creative content, such as music, rather than informational content, so hopefully it won't affect this site.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-45495550
"The final version clarifies that this will not include the sharing of hyperlinks to content such as news stories."
You're a bit late to this party. At the time I wrote the original post it was far from clear just exactly what would be covered by this directive, and there was a very real threat that even links to news websites would be affected.
What do you consider to be legit news sources, The Guardian, the BBC? The link I quoted came from a respected blogger who has as large online following. There was a widespread and sustained campaign across Europe and the wider world against the EU directive, that must tell you something about the concerns of this meddling.