YouTube and Facebook escape billions in copyright payouts after European Union vote

Google, YouTube and Facebook could escape having to make billions in payouts to press publishers, record labels and artists after European Union lawmakers voted to reject proposed changes to copyright rules that aimed to make the tech companies share more of their revenues. The proposed new rules, which have been going through the European parliament for almost two years, have sparked an increasingly bitter battle between the internet giants and owners and creators of content, with both sides ferociously lobbying their cause.  Press publishers, record labels and artists, including Paul McCartney, believe the new rules will “right a wrong” and ensure the Silicon Valley giants are made to pay what they feel would be a fairer amount – to close a so-called “value gap” – for exploiting their content to build their own businesses. More than 1.3 billion users of Google-owned YouTube regularly watch music videos, making it the biggest music service in the world. However, artists receive only 67 cents per user annually in royalties. Campaigners against the proposals, including high-profile names such as the Wikipedia founder, Jimmy Wales, the world wide web inventor, Tim Berners-Lee, the net neutrality expert Tim Wu and the internet pioneer Vint Cerf, claim they would start to transform an “open platform for sharing and innovation into a tool for the automated surveillance and control of its users”.