EU lawmakers have voted to reject changes to controversial copyright legislation, which would have cost tech giants billions and could have meant the end of internet memes.
Opponents of the proposed changes, however, said the new rules threatened freedom of speech and curbed creativity.
The reforms to the law had two elements deemed particularly controversial by critics, Article 11 and Article 13.
Article 11, also called “link tax,” would force internet giants such as YouTube, Google, and Facebook to pay for using news snippets from publishers on their platforms.
Perhaps most contested is Article 13, which would require companies to monitor all content uploaded online to their platform to check it for copyright infringement. Critics said this could lead to the removal of internet memes, which often use copyrighted images.
Three hundred and eighteen European lawmakers voted against the legislation, known as The Copyright Directive, while 278 voted in favor, and 31 abstained, taking the reforms back to the drawing board. Lawmakers are set to debate the reforms to the legislation in September.
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