MEPs vote against copyright vote ‘not surprising’

Nationalist MEP Francis Zammit Dimech said he was “unsurprised” the European Parliament voted against a controversial copyright directive. The proposal was aimed at making Google, Facebook and other tech giants share revenues with publishers, broadcasters and artists. It had stirred controversy after critics argued that the proposal would stifle internet freedom. Many feared the directive would lead to blanket censorship by tech platforms that have become an online hub for creativity. Had the proposal been approved, it would have given a mandate to a rapporteur to enter into negotiations with the European Commission and the European Council on the final text of the Copyright Directive. Dr Zammit Dimech had supported the law in the Legal Affairs Committee, saying it would extend copyright protection online and harmonise it across the EU. The debate on the controversial reform centred around two main issues. Read: EU vote could limit linking to news websites - PD One is the so-called neighbouring right for press publishers, which could force Google, Microsoft and others to pay publishers for displaying news snippets. The other is mandatory upload filtering, which would require...