Politicians and technocrats are set to debate a new law which would crack down on online copyright infringement and, in the latest example of EU overreach, potentially limit freedom of speech on the web.

While most people would agree that there are reasons to block the worst copyright violations, the new rules could have a far broader impact on ordinary internet users.

Article 13 of the new EU privacy rules would call on "internet society service providers", such as Reddit, Facebook, Twitter or Google, to use image and content recognition tools to "prevent the availability" of copyrighted material online.

EU politicians are set to debate the proposed rules on Wednesday. But the implications of bringing in blanket image blocking technology could lead to even examples of "fair use" of images being banned across the internet.

Social media sites are full of internet "memes", pictures, videos, songs or comic strips, often with captions or jokes, and almost certainly used without the rightsholders permission.