Draft legislation targets Meta, Google and TikTok over news content compensation
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese outlines measures to support local media as more than half of Australians turn to social platforms for news
The Australian government has unveiled draft legislation targeting three major global digital platforms: Meta, Google and TikTok. The proposed laws require these organisations to negotiate voluntary agreements with local news publishers to compensate them for content shared on their services. If the tech giants refuse to strike such deals, they will face a compulsory levy amounting to 2.25 per cent of their Australian revenue.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese stated that the measure aims to support struggling media outlets and prevent platforms from stripping news content from their services. He noted that the legislation explicitly names Meta, Google and TikTok as the targeted organisations, addressing a specific practice where platforms remove news content after failing to pay, a tactic previously employed overseas.
The rationale behind the proposal rests on the shifting landscape of information consumption. Research conducted by the University of Canberra has found that more than half of the country now uses social media as a primary source of news. Supporters of the legislation argue that social media companies attract users with news stories and capture advertising revenue that would otherwise fund local newsrooms, thereby exacerbating the crisis of survival facing traditional media globally.
Under the draft framework, the government intends to give the named platforms a chance to strike content deals with local news publishers before enforcement measures are considered. Albanese told reporters that large digital platforms cannot avoid their obligations under the news media bargaining code, emphasising that the three organisations are specifically identified in the current draft laws.
The legislation is designed to curb the dominance of global tech platforms in the local information ecosystem. By ensuring that platforms which hoover up online advertising dollars also compensate local publishers, the government seeks to rebalance the relationship between digital intermediaries and domestic journalism.
However, it remains unclear if these draft laws have been passed into final legislation or are currently in a consultation phase. The specific timeline for when the laws would come into effect, should they be enacted, is not provided in the available material, nor is the exact financial impact of the levy on the named companies' bottom lines quantified.
