Australia has unveiled draft laws that would pressure major digital platforms to pay for local journalism or face a levy on their Australian revenue, sharpening a long-running fight between governments, publishers and the tech companies that dominate online news distribution.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said Meta, Google and TikTok would be offered the chance to negotiate commercial arrangements with Australian news outlets. If they decline, the companies could be hit with a compulsory charge of 2.25 per cent of their revenue in Australia. The government says the policy is designed to stop large platforms from benefiting from journalism without contributing to the industry that produces it.
The proposal is the latest attempt to revive a model first tested under Australia’s 2021 News Media Bargaining Code, which initially encouraged platforms to pay publishers but later lost force as some companies stopped renewing agreements. According to reporting on the draft plan, the new scheme would be introduced to parliament in the winter sitting period and is intended to close a loophole that let platforms avoid the levy by removing news content altogether.
Communications Minister Anika Wells has said the money raised could amount to roughly AU$200 million to AU$250 million a year, with distribution linked in part to how many journalists an outlet employs. The Guardian reported that the model could also give extra weight to multicultural publishers, while the government argues that any proceeds should be reinvested in Australian journalism rather than flow into general revenue.
The platforms have signalled resistance. Meta has described the proposal as an unjustified digital services tax, while Google has argued it singles out a narrow group of companies and ignores existing commercial deals. TikTok has not publicly responded. Albanese, however, has insisted Australia has the right to legislate in its own national interest, even if the move draws criticism from Washington. Supporters of the levy say social media firms profit from news content and advertising at the expense of struggling newsrooms, and University of Canberra research suggests more than half of Australians now use social media as a source of news.
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Source: Noah Wire Services