Federal government has released a draft of laws that will force Meta, Google, and TikTok to enter into commercial arrangements with Australian news publishers or pay a levy of 2.25% in revenue.
The Prime Minister, Mr. Anthony Albanese, released the new draft of News Bargaining Incentive on Tuesday, calling it as the next steps taken by his government to ensure sustainable Australian journalism.
“The next steps our government is taking to ensure Australian journalism is sustainable for now and into the future because the large digital platforms must not be able to avoid their responsibilities,” said Albanese at an address to journalists in Canberra.
The newly drafted law aims at closing any loopholes in the previously enforced News Media Bargaining Code from 2021, under which the digital platforms were able to escape any responsibilities by removing news articles from their digital platform services.
It was done when Meta decided to stop renewing the commercial agreement with news agencies in Australia in 2024.
The draft laws would impose a levy of 2.25% of a company’s consolidated revenue deemed attributable to Australia based on financial statements lodged three years ago.
Platforms that sign deals with publishers will pay a lower rate of 1.5%. The scheme would capture companies that generate at least $250 million a year in revenue from Australian users.
The money collected by the levy would be returned to the Australian news media sector to help fund the jobs and work of journalists.
Why the changes were needed
However, the original bargaining code established during the Morrison era proved to be one of the most significant pieces of legislation to date.
In the first year alone, over 30 commercial arrangements were made between platforms and news producers under the code, none of which would probably have happened without the law.
Meta’s decision to end all of its news content arrangements in Australia in March 2024 revealed the weakness in the bargaining code.
Without a method to enforce payment irrespective of whether there is news content on the platform, any power created by the code became obsolete.
“In today’s world, people are getting their news directly from Facebook, TikTok, and Google,” Wells said.
“We think that it’s only fair that major digital platforms give back to the effort that goes into their feeds and generates their revenue.”
The draft law does not apply to artificial intelligence services that only use large language models to generate answers or information.
Google, Meta and TikTok didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.
The Coalition has so far failed to confirm it will support the incentive while the Greens have called for a broader “big tech tax” that they say could raise $11.5 billion from companies that monetise Australians personal data.
The draft legislation is out for public consultation until 18 May 2026 and the government expects to take the bill to parliament later this year.
