The Australian government said Thursday it will tax large digital platforms and search engines if they do not agree to share revenue with Australian news media organizations.
Under the proposed new rules, any internet company that refuses to negotiate with publishers or removes news from its platform – as The owner of Facebook made Meta Platforms in Canada – they would have to pay regardless, Reuters reported.
Meta blocked links to news in Canada in August 2023 to avoid taxes for media companies. Since then, Canada has become ground zero for Facebook's battle with governments that have enacted or are considering laws that would force the Internet giants to pay media companies for links to news published on their platforms.
In Australia, the tax would apply from January 1 to tech companies that earn more than 250 million Australian dollars ($227 million Cdn) a year in Australian revenue, Deputy Treasurer said Stephen Jones and Communications Minister Michelle Rowland.
Among them are Google owner Meta and ByteDance, the Chinese owner of TikTok.
Meta is blocking news content for Canadians on Instagram and Facebook after the government passed its Online News Act in June. But how does this compare to 2021, when Facebook banned news on its platforms in Australia to protest a similar law? We break down the differences.
The tax would be offset through money paid to Australian media organisations. The amount of the tax is not clear. But the government is aiming to share revenue with media organizations as the cheapest option.
“The real goal … is not to raise revenue – we hope not to raise any revenue. The real goal is to encourage agreement between platforms and news media businesses in Australia,” Jones told reporters.
The move comes after Meta, which owns Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, announced it would not renew three-year contracts to pay Australian news publishers for their content.
A previous government introduced laws known as the News Media Bargaining Code in 2021 which forced tech giants to accept revenue-sharing deals with Australian media companies or face a fine of 10 per cent of revenue. – put them in Australia.
Meta said in a statement that the current law was flawed and that the American company “still has concerns about charging one industry to subsidize another.”
“The proposal does not account for how our platforms work, particularly that most people do not come to our platforms for news content and that news publishers will voluntarily choose to post content on our platforms because they receive value from doing so,” the statement said.
Google raises doubts about approaching
Google has reached revenue sharing agreements with more than 80 Australian news companies in the past three years and has pledged to renew those deals.
But Google has raised doubts about the government's new approach.
“There is a risk that the government will introduce a targeted tax to the continued viability of commercial contracts with news publishers in Australia,” Google's statement said.
“We are reviewing today's announcement and will have more to say once we have assessed the full impact,” Google said.
TikTok noted that its users were not looking for news.
“As an entertainment platform, TikTok has never been a place for news. We will be actively involved in the consultation process and look forward to hearing more information,” TikTok's statement said.
'It is not a tax in the ordinary sense of the word'
Jones said Australian officials had explained the government's intentions to their counterparts in the United States, where most of the digital giants are headquartered. The administration of President Donald Trump is planning to increase tariffs against some countries, which has the potential to trigger trade wars.
“We want to make sure they understand the reasoning, also understand that this is not a tax in the normal sense of the word,” said Jones.
“This is an incentive to strengthen a law that has been in place in Australia since 2021.”
A new law in Australia will require TikTok, Instagram, Snapchat and other social media companies to take steps to keep users under 16 off their platforms or face fines. The National's Ian Hanomansing asks tech journalist Carmi Levy to break down the reality of this ban and whether it's something Canada should consider.
Rowland said the revenue sharing was necessary to protect Australia's democracy.
“The rapid growth of digital platforms in recent years has disrupted the Australian media landscape and threatens the practice of public interest journalism,” Rowland said.
“The intent of the policy here is very clear. It aims to encourage deals between digital platforms, search engines and Australian news publishers to support the health of our democracy.”
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