Australia forces Big Tech to pay for news or face 2.25% tax
Original: Australia forces Big Tech firms to pay for news or face a 2.25% tax
Why This Matters
Sets precedent for global regulation forcing tech platforms to fund journalism
Australia unveiled draft legislation requiring Meta, Google, and TikTok to pay news publishers or face a 2.25% revenue levy. The News Bargaining Incentive replaces 2021 rules after Meta removed news content to avoid payments.
Australia's government introduced the News Bargaining Incentive (NBI) requiring Meta, Google, and TikTok to pay local news publishers or face a 2.25% tax on Australian revenues. The levy drops to 1.5% with sufficient commercial deals, potentially generating A$200-250 million for journalism. Communications Minister Anika Wells stated people increasingly get news from these platforms. The NBI replaces the 2021 News Media Bargaining Code, which allowed platforms to remove news content to avoid payments. Meta did this in 2024, triggering job cuts across Australian newsrooms. The new legislation closes this loophole by taxing platforms regardless of whether they carry news. TikTok's inclusion expands coverage beyond the original Code, while AI services are explicitly excluded pending separate copyright policy reviews.