MEPs have voted in favour of controversial changes to online copyright across the EU, in a decision designed to make tech giants more responsible for paying creatives, musicians and news outlets more fairly for their work online.
The Copyright Directive was approved by 348 MEPs, with 274 voting against and 36 abstaining.
EU member states will have two years to implement the reforms, although it is not clear what it would mean for the UK in the face of Brexit uncertainty.
"A huge thank you to all the MEPs who supported the Copyright Directive today and the fantastic work of all those who have campaigned so hard on this," representation body UK Music tweeted.
Julia Reda, a German MEP and vocal opponent of the move, described the decision as a "dark day for internet freedom".
MEPs also rejected making any individual amendments to the reforms, but only by a slim majority of five votes.
Supporters in the creative, music and journalism industries have long argued that the Copyright Directive will enable content-makers to be fairly paid for their work, while opponents, including the tech giants themselves, fear the changes will have an impact on freedom of speech and expression online.
Two parts, Article 11 and Article 13, have been the most contentious since talks started, with the likes of YouTube warning that viewers across the EU could be cut off from videos.
Musicians Sir Paul McCartney and Debbie Harry were among the most vocal supporters of the changes, alongside a number of groups including the European Alliance of News Agencies, which argued that it provides an opportunity to further develop quality news services and enables it to compete more fairly with tech giants.
Alexandru Giboi, secretary general of the EANA, said: "Creators of content have a much better chance of obtaining a fair remuneration fRead More – Source
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