EU countries back copyright reforms aimed at Google, Facebook
EU countries back copyright reforms aimed at Google,
Facebook
Foo Yun Chee FEBRUARY 20, 2019 / 6:54 AM
BRUSSELS (Reuters) - European Union countries on Wednesday
endorsed an overhaul of the bloc’s copyright rules which would force Google and
Facebook Inc to pay publishers for news snippets and filter out
copyright-protected content on YouTube or Instagram.
A majority of EU diplomats agreed to the revamp while
Finland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Poland refused to back the deal
and two other EU countries abstained.
Negotiators from the EU countries, the European
Parliament and the European Commission sealed a deal last week, two years after
the EU executive proposed changes to protect the bloc’s cultural heritage and
ensure that publishers, broadcasters and artists are remunerated fairly.
Romania, which currently holds the rotating EU
presidency, said in a tweet that the copyright agreement had been approved by
the EU Council.
The dissenting countries said the proposed changes could
hinder innovation and hurt the bloc’s competitiveness in the digital market.
“We regret that the Directive does not strike the right
balance between the protection of right holders and the interests of EU
citizens and companies,” they said in a joint statement.
The next step in the process is a vote by a committee of
lawmakers next week followed by a parliamentary vote either next month or early
April before the changes can become law.
The revamp would require Google and other online
platforms to sign licensing agreements with rights holders such as musicians,
performers, authors, news publishers and journalists to use their work online.
Google’s YouTube and Facebook’s Instagram and other
sharing platforms will have to install upload filters to prevent users from
uploading copyrighted materials.
Google, which has lobbied against both features and has
even suggested that it might pull Google News from Europe, said last week it
would study the text before deciding on its next steps.
Reporting by Foo Yun Chee. Editing by Jane Merriman
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