Leisure: European Parliament rejects proposal for copyright reform on the Internet

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D as the European Parliament rejected the controversial reform of copyright on the Internet. The plenary decided Thursday in Strasbourg to refer the bill to the commissions. The design of the legal committee was aimed at forcing search engines like Google to pay for foreign news content. The planned introduction of download filters on online platforms has been particularly controversial. Suppliers such as Facebook, Youtube or Twitter should be held responsible for copyrighted content uploaded by users.

While publishers and media companies praised these projects, they met strong opposition from internet activists. Opponents fear restrictions on Internet freedom and large-scale censorship. In the European Parliament, 278 MEPs voted in favor of the Legal Affairs Committee's proposal, 318 opposed and 31 abstained.

The bill will be discussed again in the European Parliament. It is only after the vote in plenary that negotiations can begin between the Parliament, the EU states and the Commission. According to information from the European Parliament, the question of whether these can be completed before the European elections next May is debatable.

This was not impossible, said the Legal Committee. "But then you have to negotiate very quickly." The issue is also controversial in the Council of 28 EU Member States. France, for example, supports the proposed strengthening of copyright, Germany is skeptical.