The Australian government released draft legislation for a News Bargaining Incentive scheme that would impose a 2.25% levy on annual Australian revenues from digital platforms including Google, Meta, and TikTok, with the levy avoidable if platforms strike commercial deals with local news publishers to compensate them for news content. Platforms that make deals would receive offsets of up to 170% against the levy, with the government expecting the scheme to raise up to $250M annually for Australian journalism if platforms choose not to deal. Google and Meta both rejected the proposal — Google called it an unnecessary tax that ignores its existing deals with 226 Australian outlets and criticized the exclusion of AI platforms like OpenAI, while Meta called it “nothing more than a digital services tax” that would apply regardless of whether news content even appears on its services.
