New Delhi: Australia is making another big push to make tech giants pay for news. The government has released draft legislation for a proposed News Bargaining Incentive, which would charge major digital platforms if they do not sign commercial deals with news publishers.
The proposal targets companies such as Meta, Google and TikTok, and is expected to be introduced in Parliament by July 2. The government says the plan is meant to support journalism by putting a clear financial value on news content used across digital platforms.
What Australia Has Proposed
As per an AP report, under the proposed News Bargaining Incentive, major platforms that do not make commercial payment deals with Australian news publishers could face a 2.25% tax on their Australian revenue.
The government expects the measure to raise between 200 million and 250 million Australian dollars a year, which is around Rs 1,080 crore to Rs 1,350 crore. The money would then be distributed among news organisations based on the number of journalists they employ.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the work of journalists needs a monetary value. He said, “It shouldn’t just be able to be taken by a large multinational corporation and used to generate profits for that organisation with no compensation appropriate for the people who produce that creative content.”
He added, “We think that investment in journalism is critical to a healthy democracy.”
Why This Matters For Big Tech
This is Australia’s second major attempt to make digital platforms pay news publishers. The country had passed the News Media Bargaining Code in 2021, which pushed platforms to strike deals with news companies.
At that time, several tech firms chose commercial agreements instead of being forced into arbitration. Since then, the situation has changed. Some platforms have not renewed those deals, and news has been reduced or removed in parts of their services.
For anyone who follows tech policy, this is familiar ground. Governments want platforms to support local news. Platforms argue that publishers post content on their services by choice. The fight is now moving from “who benefits” to “who pays”.
Meta And Google Push Back
Meta has criticised the plan and said news organisations “voluntarily post content on our platforms because they receive value from doing so.”
The company added, “The idea that we take their news content is simply wrong. This proposed legislation, which would apply to platforms regardless of whether news content even appears on our services, is nothing more than a digital services tax.”
Google has rejected the need for the tax. The company said, “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.”
The Bigger Business Signal
The draft plan is about more than Australia. It could become another case study for countries watching how digital platforms, news publishers and governments handle money flows in the internet economy.
For India, where news consumption is also heavily shaped by search, social media and short-video platforms, Australia’s move will be watched closely. The core question is simple, even if the policy is not: if tech platforms gain from news traffic and public attention, should they pay newsrooms that create that content?
Australia has made its position clear. Albanese said, “We’re a sovereign nation and my government will make decisions based upon the Australian national interest.”