[Paper Review] Filtering for Copyright Enforcement in Europe after the Sabam cases

S. Kulk, Frederik Zuiderveen Borgesius|UvA-DARE (University of Amsterdam)|Jan 8, 2026

Freedom of Expression and Defamation28 citations

TL;DR

The paper argues that EU judgments rejecting Sabam’s filter proposal do not significantly advance privacy or freedom of information.

ABSTRACT

Sabam, a Belgian collective rights management organisation, wanted an internet access provider and a social network site to install a filter system to enforce copyrights. In two recent judgments, the Court of Justice of the European Union decided that the social network site and the internet access provider cannot be required to install the filter system that Sabam asked for. Are these judgments good news for fundamental rights? This article argues that little is won for privacy and freedom of information.

Motivation & Objective

• Assess the privacy and information-freedom implications of two EU Court of Justice judgments that reject Sabam's filtering demand.
• Evaluate whether denying mandatory filters advances fundamental rights in Europe.
• Clarify policy and rights-based trade-offs in copyright enforcement online in the European context.

Proposed method

• Analyze the Court of Justice of the European Union judgments concerning ISPs and social networks and their rejection of Sabam's filter system.
• Discuss potential privacy and information-access consequences of these judgments.
• Provide a rights-based evaluation of the enforcement regime post-Sabam.

Experimental results

Research questions

• RQ1 Do the CJUE judgments materially improve privacy protections in the context of online copyright enforcement in Europe?
• RQ2 Do the decisions meaningfully enhance freedom of information and freedom of expression with respect to user-generated content online?
• RQ3 What policy trade-offs remain between copyright enforcement and fundamental rights after Sabam?
• RQ4 What are the broader implications for ISPs and social networks in implementing or resisting filtration schemes?

Key findings

• The two CJUE judgments decline to require social networks or ISPs to install the filter system sought by Sabam.
• The rulings do not translate into strong gains for privacy rights.
• The judgments offer limited improvements for freedom of information.
• Overall, little is won for privacy and freedom of information in Europe post-Sabam.