EU approves changes to copyright law

The European Parliament on Tuesday approved a controversial copyright law that will force online platforms such as Google and Facebook to filter out content that could be considered a copyright infringement.

European Union lawmakers backed the new law 348-274, capping off three years of heated debate over how the EU should modernize its copyright rules.

Tech companies and digital rights activists campaigned aggressively against the copyright reforms, claiming they could infringe on freedom of speech online and fundamentally alter how Google and Facebook in particular do business in the EU. Google in January said it might pull its Google News service from the EU entirely if the law is enacted.

The new law will force all but the smallest online platforms to install content filters to weed out potentially copyrighted content, including memes and gifs. Under the new rules, anyone sharing copyrighted content must obtain explicit permission from the content’s creator.

The entertainment industry in the EU has broadly backed the reforms, saying they will allow entertainers and creators to be fairly compensated for their work.

The new law will also allow media publishers to demand compensation when platforms post snippets of their news articles.

The text of the law still has to be approved by the Council of the European Union, with a vote expected for April 9.