Australia is launching a aggressive legislative push to force tech giants to subsidize local journalism. The government unveiled draft legislation on Tuesday that mandates companies like Meta, Google, and TikTok to pay for the news content they aggregate or face a mandatory levy on their Australian revenues.
The “News Bargaining Incentive” Explained
Communications minister Anika Wells stated at a press conference: “People are increasingly getting their news directly from Facebook, from TikTok, and from Google.”
The proposed News Bargaining Incentive (NBI) imposes a 2.25% levy on the local revenues of these platforms unless they secure commercial deals with Australian news publishers. The policy creates a sliding scale: as platforms finalize more agreements with media outlets, their effective tax rate drops to 1.5%. The government estimates this could funnel between A$200 million and A$250 million back into the domestic journalism industry.
“Journalists are the lifeblood of Australia’s media sector, playing a vital role in keeping communities informed about the news that matters to them,” Prime Minister Anthony Albanese noted in an official statement.
Fixing the Flaws of the 2021 Code
This initiative marks Australia’s second attempt to regulate Big Tech’s relationship with the news media. The 2021 News Media Bargaining Code was intended to force payments, but it contained a loophole allowing platforms to simply remove news content to avoid financial obligations. Meta utilized this in 2024, a move reportedly triggering significant job cuts across various newsrooms.
The NBI is designed to close that gap. Under the new rules, platforms will be taxed regardless of whether they host news content. The legislation explicitly includes TikTok but excludes AI services for now. Assistant treasurer Daniel Mulino clarified that AI “is not included in the scope of this measure” as it is currently being reviewed under separate copyright policy forums.
International Tensions and Sovereignty
The proposal faces potential friction with the U.S. government. The Trump administration has historically opposed digital services taxes, threatening tariffs against nations that implement them. Most recently, the U.K. was warned of steep tariffs if it moved forward with similar digital taxes on U.S. tech giants.
When questioned on this potential pushback, Prime Minister Albanese remained firm: “We’re a sovereign nation, and my Government will make decisions based upon the Australian national interest. We do that right across the board.” If passed, platforms will have until July to comply before the levy takes effect.
Global Context and Industry Backlash
Australia joins a global movement including Canada, Brazil, and the EU, all of which have struggled with varying degrees of success in regulating tech platforms. Meta VP of Communication Andy Stone said on X that the proposal is “nothing more than a digital service tax,” arguing that news organizations choose to post on Meta platforms and that the tax applies even if no news content is present.
Google also expressed strong opposition. A company spokesperson told TechCrunch: “We reject the need for this tax. It ignores the fact that Google already has commercial agreements with the news industry, misunderstands how the ad market changed and mandates payments from some companies while arbitrarily excluding platforms like Microsoft, Snapchat and OpenAI – despite the major shift in how people consume news.”
TikTok has not yet responded to requests for comment.
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