Europe just voted to change the face of the internet, backing new laws wildly unpopular with firms like Google and Reddit

The European Parliament has passed controversial new laws on internet copyright.The new EU Copyright Directive passed by 348 votes to 274 on Tuesday.The laws are intended to ensure fair copyright on the internet, but have been sharply criticised for being overreaching.Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales, Google, and YouTuber KSI were among those who bemoaned the legislation being passed.The European Parliament on Tuesday passed legislation massively tightening copyright laws on the internet — a move which has been vocally opposed by tech companies, academics, and consumers.The original draft of the new laws was sent back to the drawing board in July 2018 for being too sweeping. A softened version was then drawn up in September 2018. On Tuesday, the directive passed with 348 votes to 274.Most contentious are articles 11 and 13. Article 11 is sometimes called the “link tax,” and will require companies such as Google, to hold licences for linking to publishers.Article 13, meanwhile, requires internet companies such as Reddit to police their platforms for any copyright infringement uploaded to them, filtering out any offending content. When first proposed, it sparked fears that it could essentially kill off memes.Prior to the main vote, MEPs voted to reject the ability to make any amendments to these controversial elements of the directive by a majority of five votes.European Commission Vice President for the digital single market Andrus Ansip welcomed the new laws.Tweet Embed: //twitter.com/mims/statuses/1110511170358837250？ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw This #copyright vote is a big step ahead. It cuts fragmentation; a key step to completing the #DigitalSingleMarket. For the first time Europe has clear common rules on cultural heritage & text and data mining, essential for future of #AI#CopyrightDirective pic.twitter.com/ysIMXk6jaFJulia Reda, a member of European Parliament who has campaigned against the laws, said it was a “dark day for internet freedom.”Tweet Embed: //twitter.com/mims/statuses/1110509970213294081？ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw Dark day for internet freedom: The @Europarl_EN has rubber-stamped copyright reform including #Article13 and #Article11. MEPs refused to even consider amendments. The results of the final vote: 348 in favor, 274 against #SaveYourInternet pic.twitter.com/8bHaPEEUk3Google also tweeted its dismay, saying that the new laws will cause “legal uncertainty.”Tweet Embed: //twitter.com/mims/statuses/1110511103602237440？ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw The #eucopyrightdirective is improved but will still lead to legal uncertainty and will hurt Europes creative and digital economies (1/2)Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales said internet users “lost a huge battle today,” while YouTuber KSI tweeted: “Article 13 has just passed...RIP.”Reddit, Wikipedia, and PornHub were among those who protested against the laws last week asking users to lobby their representatives in the European Parliament to vote against the reforms.Read more: Everyone is panicking about a 'dreadful' new law that might kill off the meme and change the internet foreverTens of thousands of protesters also took to the streets in Germany, and other European countries, including Sweden, Poland, Switzerland, Austria, and Portugal, to campaign against the changes.On Sunday, a group of 200 European academics wrote a joint statement condemning the reform.A major criticism levelled at the new laws is that they will chill freedom of speech online. When they were first drafted, some even feared that Article 13 could lead to the extinction of memes.