Europe's broadcasters, publishers and artists including Paul McCartney backed the rules, arguing the controversial Article 13 would protect the music industry.A total of 318 law makers voted against opening talks with EU countries based on the committee's proposal while 278 voted in favour, and 31 abstained.Internet activists nonetheless hailed the decision as a victory and said that the work of campaigners had helped turn them against automatic scanning of posts to ensure they abide by copyright. The European Parliament has voted against an incredibly controversial new set of copyright rules that campaigners claim could "ban memes" The law will now beinside the parliament, during which activists will try and remove the controversial Article 11 and 13.Article 11 has been referred to by campaigners as instituting a "link tax", by forcing tech companies like Google and Facebook to pay to use snippets of content on their own sites. “We will work with MEPs over the next weeks to explain how the proposed directive will benefit not just European creativity, but also internet users and the technology sector.”

The European Parliament will return to the issue in September, where its position will be up for debate, amendment and another vote in the next plenary session.
The European Parliament votes against the proposed copyright reform.