Thirteen European Parliament members accidentally voted the wrong way on controversial copyright amendment

Thirteen members of the European Parliament (MEPs) say they accidentally voted the wrong way on a crucial amendment to a copyright directive, reports The Verge.

Ten MEPs meant to vote in favor of the amendment instead of against, two MEPs accidentally approved the amendment and one MEP meant to abstain from voting. At the time of voting, the amendment was rejected by five votes, per The Verge.

A senior policy advisor for a digital rights group Diego Naranjo told The Verge the mistake made a "joke" out of the vote, and was a "step backwards" for the European Union.

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Several MEPs attributed the mistaken votes to confusion over the order of voting, with a spokesperson for a Belgian MEP who voted incorrectly telling The Verge: "The procedural vote was a last minute oral amendment which was somewhat confusing."

Had it passed, the amendment would have allowed for further discussion and voting on two of the most controversial articles of the copyright directive.

The two articles under scrutiny have been criticized for undermining users' ability to share content across the internet and imposing strict filters on anything that could potentially violate copyright laws, reports Gizmodo.