Australia passes law to levy tech giants that fail to pay for local news
The law sets a 2.5% levy on major platforms unless they strike deals with at least eight Australian news publishers.
- On Thursday, Australia passed the News Bargaining Incentive, legislation forcing tech giants to pay levies unless they strike commercial deals with local media outlets for news content.
- The law closes a five-year dispute by removing Meta's strategy of avoiding payment by simply not carrying news, a tactic that undermined the previous News Media Bargaining Code.
- Platforms including Meta, Google, TikTok, and LinkedIn with over $178 million in Australian advertising revenue face a 2.5% levy; any single deal with publishers is capped at 25% of liability.
- Assistant Daniel Mulino said the tax targets "the part of the business that uses the news," while proceeds fund the News Journalism Payments scheme supporting small and regional outlets.
- AI firms remain exempt from the scheme despite training on similar journalism, while Meta argues the levy breaches the free trade agreement between Australia and the United States.
42 Articles
42 Articles
(Hanoi=Yonhap News) Correspondent Park Jin-hyung = Australia [is paying] a portion of its revenue to global big tech companies such as Meta, which do not have news usage agreements with domestic media outlets...
The new law, which also reaches TikTok, forces big tech companies to agree compensations with at least eight local journalistic companies.The government of that country thus remarked "it will be fairer" the distribution of profits generated by the news.
Sydney Morning Herald
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Australia enforces payment for local news
Australian lawmakers have put a price on lifting local news; under the News Bargaining Incentive, social media platforms must either strike commercial deals with Australian news outlets or hand over a 2.5 per cent slice of their advertising earnings to the government instead. The levy is on the Australian revenue generated from advertisements on the […]
Australia Passes Law Forcing Big Tech to Pay 2.75 Percent on Revenue for News
The federal government’s revamped News Bargaining Incentive has passed both the House of Representatives and Senate. The changes mean nominated Big Tech firms must pay a 2.75 percent tax on their annual revenue if they fail to strike payment deals with Australian news outlets. The Incentive replaces the previous News Media Bargaining Code and will affect Google, Meta (which owns Facebook and Instagram), TikTok, and LinkedIn. Any successful volu…
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