Amid howls of protests from the likes of Google, Github and Wikipedia, the European Parliament has backed controversial new copyright laws.
News publishers and record companies will benefit from the rules aimed at giving creators power back over their work. Technology giants such as Google and Facebook will be forced to compensate publishers, artists, musicians and broadcasters.
Following the backing by MEPs the next stage will be for the approval of the European Council, after which the legislation will become law.
18 years after the rules around copyright were last amended MEPs voted by 348 to 278 to approve the new rules.
Google, a longstanding critic of the proposals, immediately criticised the new rules, saying they would produce legal uncertainty and hurt the bloc’s creative and digital economies”.
However, Google pledged to work with the EU and other stakeholders during their implementation period.