The European Parliament on Tuesday adopted controversial copyright reforms championed by news publishers and the media business, but punishing tech giants that lobbied against it.
Launched in 2016, the revamp to European copyrightlegislation was seen as urgently needed, not having been updated since 2001,before the birth of YouTube or Facebook.
The reform was loudly backed by media companies and artists,who want to obtain a better return from web platforms that allow users todistribute their content.
But it was strongly opposed by Silicon Valley, andespecially Google that makes huge profits from the advertising generated oncontent it hosts, and also by supporters of a free internet who fear it willresult in unprecedented restrictions to web freedom.
The final days before the vote were marked by marches andmedia stunts, including tens of thousands of people protesting in Germany onSaturday under the slogan “Save the Internet”.
There were similar protests in Austria, Poland and Portugal, while major Polish newspapers on Monday printed blank front pages in an appeal that MEPs adopt the reform.