Australia passes law to levy tech giants that fail to pay for local news
The levy applies to Meta, Alphabet’s Google, TikTok and Microsoft’s LinkedIn, covering companies with a “significant” social media or search service in Australia, and local advertising revenue exceeding A$250 million ($178 million)
Australia's government has introduced a new piece of legislation aimed at levying technology giants that fail to negotiate commercial deals with local media outlets for utilizing their news content on platforms. Known as the News Bargaining Incentive, this tax mandates that companies pay 2.5% of their advertising revenue, unless they establish agreements with at least eight publishers by the end of the reporting period.
The levy is applicable to Meta, Google, TikTok, and Microsoft's LinkedIn, targeting companies with substantial social media or search services in Australia, and those generating local advertising revenue surpassing A$250 million. Platforms can evade the levy by securing deals with multiple publishers. The deals must bolster the creation of news content or its online availability via the platform.
Spending with large publishers receives a 150% offset, while small and medium-sized outlets receive a 200% offset. No single deal can offset more than 25% of a platform's levy liability. The government emphasized that this legislation sends a clear message to platforms, urging them to conclude commercial deals before the end of their financial reporting period to offset their liability.
This move is seen as a significant step for Australian news businesses and journalism, following the recent passage of laws limiting gambling advertisements.
Written by urgent.news from The Hindu - Sci-Tech's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
