Australia mandates tech giants pay levy or negotiate deals with local news outlets
Australia has enacted a law requiring major tech platforms to pay a 2.75% levy on local ad revenue unless they reach agreements with at least eight domestic news publishers.
Australia’s parliament has passed a law that forces large digital platforms to either secure deals with at least eight local news organisations or pay a levy of 2.75 percent of their Australian advertising revenue. The measure targets firms like Meta, Google, TikTok and LinkedIn that earn more than AU $250 million in the country and run significant social media or search services. If no agreement is reached, the levy will be collected and allocated to news publishers, with each outlet’s share calculated according to the number of journalists, including freelancers, it employs.
The legislation supersedes a 2021 scheme that the government said was no longer effective, after incidents such as Meta’s temporary blockage of news links and the expiration of earlier deals. The new rules aim to ensure that tech companies benefiting from news content financially support the production of journalism in Australia.
Why it matters
The law seeks to fund Australian journalism by making profitable tech firms contribute financially if they do not negotiate news deals.
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