Tech Companies Win Reprieve as EU Parliament Delays Copyright Law
Tech Companies Win Reprieve as EU Parliament Delays
Copyright Law
Contested rules are an effort to strengthen content
providers’ position when negotiating with tech giants
The vote on copyright exposes divisions within Europe
over how to rein in big tech firms.
By Sam Schechner Updated July 5, 2018 7:52 a.m. ET
European Union lawmakers rejected new copyright rules
Thursday, instead opting for more debate and handing a victory to tech firms
that face a broader European effort to rein them in on privacy, taxes and other
rules.
The contested rules, part of an overhaul of the bloc’s
copyright framework, are aimed at granting new rights to news publishers and
content owners, such as record labels, in an effort to strengthen their
position when negotiating with big tech firms, such as Alphabet Inc.’s Google.
Technology firms and free-speech advocates have said both
measures would stifle online expression.
The vote exposes divisions within Europe over how to rein
in big tech companies, as the bloc plays an increasing role in regulating those
firms from the U.S. that have generally faced a lighter touch at home.
The EU is currently considering new tax proposals aimed
at large tech companies that it says don’t report enough profit, or pay enough
income tax, in the European countries where they operate. In May, the EU began
enforcing a strict new privacy law, which could end up challenging whether
people freely consent to tech companies collecting their personal information.
The directive that EU lawmakers voted to delay on
Thursday has been subject to debate and heavy lobbying in Brussels since the
European Commission, the EU’s executive arm, first proposed it almost two years
ago. On Wednesday, for instance, Sir Paul McCartney sent a letter supporting
the law. Tech advocates meanwhile described it as a “censorship machine.”
One controversial measure in the commission’s draft would
give news publishers the right to negotiate payment for “digital use” of their
content by tech firms, though revisions in the parliament version didn’t extend
that right to posting hyperlinks to content. Publishers say the rules are
needed because a growing share readership comes through social media and
aggregators, undercutting publishers’ efforts to attract subscribers.
Another provision would require online-video sites like
Google’s YouTube to pay “proportionate remuneration” for their works, and take
measures to prevent uploads of content for which it doesn’t have a license.
Record labels have long lobbied to require platforms like YouTube to scan their
uploads for copyright material, something it currently does on a voluntary
basis. Record labels say the provision would strengthen their negotiations with
such platforms.
During the debate on Thursday, Axel Voss, a German member
of the EU parliament who has been overseeing the measure, said the bill would
force big tech companies to “take more responsibility.”
U.K. member Catherine Stihler said “there are real
concerns on the effect of Article 13 on freedom of expression,” referring to
one of the law’s provisions, adding that the law “does not achieve the needed
balance.”
Tech lobbyists cheered the vote. “Today’s vote shows that
MEPs heard the grave concerns of the online sector,” said Maud Sacquet, senior
policy manager for the Computer & Communications Industry Association,
which represents Google, Facebook Inc. and other tech firms.
The vote means the copyright legislation will be sent
back to the full EU parliament for debate in September, rather than advancing
directly to three-way negotiations among parliament, EU member states and the
EU’s executive arm.
The law’s supporters decried the delay and said they aim
to keep pushing in September. “The European Parliament succumbed to the
misleading appeals by the platforms at the expense of Europe’s creative
sectors,” said Wout van Wijk, executive director of News Media Europe, a trade
organization.
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