The Australian government recently announced a draft legislation that would require large technology platforms such as Google, Meta and TikTok to either reach payment agreements with news publishing organizations or accept a 2.25% tax on their income in Australia through the "News Bargaining Incentive" mechanism. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the large digital platforms "cannot avoid their obligations under the national news media bargaining structure".
According to the draft, this fee is applicable to platform companies with an annual revenue of more than 250 million Australian dollars in Australia. The government emphasizes that this measure is not a punitive tax, but an incentive mechanism designed to "bring Facebook, Instagram, Google Search and TikTok back to the negotiating table." If a platform can reach a payment agreement with a media organization to pay content usage fees to news publishers, the payment amount can be deducted from the tax payable, and the proportion of payment to small and medium-sized media organizations can obtain a higher deduction amount. In the event there are still platforms that refuse to negotiate with publishers, the government will impose a 2.25 per cent charge on their Australian revenue, with proceeds directed to support journalism and local news coverage.
The new proposals are seen as an upgrade and replacement for the News Media Bargaining Code 2021. During the legislative battle in 2021, Google and Meta once openly confronted Australia, and finally signed content payment agreements with multiple media organizations under legal pressure. At the time, Meta briefly blocked Australian users from sharing or viewing news links on its platform before settling with some media outlets. Meta has taken a tougher stance when faced with similar legislation in Canada and is still blocking access to news links there.
Meta has gradually weakened the weight of news content on its platform in recent years. In 2024, Facebook announced that it would remove the News tab in the United States and Australia and shift resources to creator content, short videos, and artificial intelligence-related products. Meta has always emphasized that the main purpose of users using Facebook is not to obtain news, but media organizations believe that it is the platform that has built a huge business empire in the process of distributing news content for many years.
Relevant technology companies have received a lukewarm response to the latest draft. Meta denounced the plan as “a cross-industry wealth transfer driven by government mandates” and said news content represents only a small portion of what users of its platform see. Google stated that Australia already has a series of existing agreements and rules, and the necessity of new legislation is doubtful, and questioned why the new regulations do not include artificial intelligence companies within the scope of supervision.
It is generally believed that Australia has become one of the Western countries with the toughest attitude towards regulating technology giants. Previously, the country took the lead in launching the world's first national social media ban, prohibiting teenagers under the age of 16 from opening social platform accounts. However, follow-up studies have shown that a large number of underage users are still able to bypass restrictions and continue to access relevant platforms. This ban is full of problems at the implementation level.