Australia has passed the News Bargaining Incentive legislation, which imposes a 2.5 percent tax on advertising revenues of major technology platforms unless they negotiate commercial agreements with local news publishers.
Australia's parliament has approved the News Bargaining Incentive, legislation designed to compel major technology platforms to financially support local news production. The law establishes a 2.5 percent levy on advertising revenues for companies that fail to reach commercial arrangements with Australian media outlets. The affected companies include Meta, Google, TikTok, and LinkedIn, provided they operate significant social media or search services in Australia and generate local advertising revenue exceeding A$250 million (approximately $178 million).
Under the scheme, technology platforms can avoid the levy by entering into agreements with at least eight different publishers before their financial reporting period ends. Revenue generated through the tax will be directed to local news organizations whose content drives user engagement and advertising income for these platforms. The legislation establishes tiered incentive structures, offering a 200 percent offset for spending with small and medium-sized publishers compared to a 150 percent offset for large publishers, though individual deals cannot exceed 25 percent of any platform's total levy liability.
The government emphasized that the legislation sends a clear directive to technology companies to pursue commercial negotiations with news publishers. According to official statements, concluded deals must support news content production or involve making publisher-produced news available on the platforms. The passage of this law follows parliamentary approval of separate gambling advertising restrictions, marking a significant regulatory moment for Australian media and technology sectors.
