SYDNEY: Australia unveiled draft laws on Tuesday (Apr 28) that would tax tech giants Meta, Google and TikTok unless they voluntarily strike deals to pay local outlets for news.
Traditional media companies around the world are in a battle for survival as readers increasingly consume their news on social media.
Australia wants big tech companies to compensate local publishers for sharing articles that drive traffic on their platforms.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said tech giants Meta, Google and TikTok would be given a chance to strike content deals with local news publishers.
If they refuse, they face a compulsory levy that amounts to 2.25 per cent of their Australian revenue, he said.
“Large digital platforms cannot avoid their obligations under the news media bargaining code,” Albanese told reporters.
“At this point, the three organisations are Meta, Google and TikTok.”
The changes aim to close a loophole under a previous media law, which allowed organisations to avoid a levy if they removed news from their platforms.
The three firms were singled out based on a combination of their Australian revenues and large numbers of domestic users.
The draft laws have been designed to stop the tech giants from simply stripping news from their platforms – something Meta and Google have done in the past.
“What we are encouraging is for them to sit down with news organisations and get these deals done,” Albanese said.
When Canberra mooted similar laws in 2024, Facebook parent Meta announced that Australian users would no longer be able to access the “news” tab.
Meta had previously announced it would not renew content deals with news publishers in the United States, Britain, France and Germany.
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