EU governments on Monday backed the new copyright rules that force Google to pay publishers for news snippets and Facebook to filter out protected content.

Nineteen countries, including France and Germany, endorsed the revamp while Finland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Poland and Sweden were against. Belgium, Estonia and Slovenia abstained.

"The new rules ensure adequate protection for authors and artists, while opening up new possibilities for accessing and sharing copyright-protected content online throughout the European Union," the European Council said.

The European Commission says the rules needed to be revised to protect the bloc’s creative industries.

Under the new rules, Google and other online platforms will have to sign licensing agreements with musicians, performers, authors, news publishers and journalists to use their work online.

Google’s YouTube, Facebook’s Instagram and other sharing platforms will also have to install filters to prevent users from uploading copyrighted materials.

The directive also introduces mandatory exceptions to copyright for the purposes of text and data mining, online teaching activities and the preservation and online dissemination of cultural heritage.

Following the signature and publication of the directive in the Official Journal of the EU, European member states will have 24 months to transpose the new rules into their national law.