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Australia Taxes Big Tech for News
20 Aug
Summary
- Tech giants face levies if they don't pay local media for news.
- A 2.5% advertising revenue tax applies unless commercial deals are struck.
- Funds generated will directly support Australian news outlets.
Australia has passed new legislation, the News Bargaining Incentive, that mandates tech giants to compensate local media for news content appearing on their platforms. This law imposes a 2.5% levy on the advertising revenues of targeted companies unless they finalize commercial agreements with Australian publishers.
These levies are designed to channel funds directly to local news outlets. The legislation specifies that the income generated will support the production of news content, acknowledging its contribution to user engagement and advertising revenue for platforms like Meta, Google, TikTok, and Microsoft's LinkedIn. Companies must secure deals with at least eight publishers to potentially avoid the tax, with significant offsets offered for agreements with smaller and medium-sized outlets.
