EU member states approve Copyright Directive

The proposed Copyright Directive was supported by 19 EU member states, including Germany and France

Member countries of the European Union have finally approved the controversial Copyright Directive.

The legislation was passed by the EU Parliament last month, and was formally approved by the Council of the European Union today. Nineteen EU member states, including Germany and France, voted in favour.

Six member states - namely, Italy, Finland, Luxembourg, Poland, Sweden and the Netherlands - voted against the Directive, while three countries abstained from the vote, according to Reuters.

EU member states will now have two years to translate the Directive into their respective national laws.

The rules will also force Google to pay publishers for news snippets

The new rules bind online platforms, such as Google and Facebook, to sign licensing agreements with artists, musicians, news publishers, authors, and other creative people or entities to use their work online.

The rules will also force Google to pay publishers for news snippets. When such a policy was introduced in Spain, Google responded by closing Spanish language Google News, and it has threatened to do likewise across the European Union in response to the Copyright Directive.

One of the most controversial feature of the reform has been Article 13 (now called Article 17), which requires YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, and other platforms to ensure that the content uploaded by users doesn't violate copyright laws.

These platforms are also required to install content filters to prevent users from uploading copyrighted content.

The debate on copyright reform started about two years ago when the European Commission stressed the need to overhaul the bloc's 20-year-old copyright laws to protect the EU's creative industries, which are estimated to employ more than 11.65 million people.

The reforms are intended to update the EU's copyright rules to reflect the challenges of the information age on creative industries.

However, the Directive has been strongly criticised by technology giants as well as online freedom activists who believe that the new laws will result in censorship and blocks on everything from pictures to memes.

The EU responded by claiming that won't happen and that people will be able to upload and share such content without any issues under the new copyright regime.

"I'm getting a lot of questions on whether the CJEU could strike down the #copyright directive. Yes, but it would be slow and difficult. Here's what I've written on this in the past," Julia Reda, Member of European Parliament the European Pirate Party (PPEU) said in a tweet.

Reda is an opponent of the Article 13/17 of the EU's Copyright Directive.

"The entertainment lobby will not stop here. Over the next two years, they will push for national implementations that ignore users' fundamental rights. It will be more important than ever for civil society to keep up the pressure in the Member States! #SaveYourInternet," she added.

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