Google, Facebook dealt a blow

Tech platforms and internet activists protested the outcome of a European Parliament vote yesterday to back copyright rules that would help video, music and other rights holders seek compensation for use of their content online.

Alphabet Inc.’s Google, Facebook Inc. and other tech firms may now be forced to negotiate licences for content that appears on their sites after lawmakers broadly supported a legislative proposal for new copyright rules, unveiled in 2016 by the European Commission.

The European Parliament in July had rejected the rules but backed them in a final vote yesterday after lawmakers submitted slight tweaks to the text.