Australia passes News Bargaining Incentive, levying large tech platforms that do not strike news deals
Technology & SocietyWell-covered
|
The Facts
- Australia's parliament passed the News Bargaining Incentive on Thursday, August 20, 2026.
- The News Bargaining Incentive imposes a 2.5% levy on qualifying platforms' Australian advertising revenue.
- The levy applies to Meta, Alphabet's Google, TikTok and Microsoft's LinkedIn.
- The scheme covers platforms with a "significant" search or social media service in Australia and local advertising revenue above A$250 million ($178 million).
- Platforms can avoid the charge by reaching agreements with at least eight different publishers before the end of their reporting period.
- Deals with large publishers attract a 150% offset against levy liability; deals with small and medium publishers attract a 200% offset.
- No single deal can count for more than 25% of a platform's total levy liability.
- Proceeds from the levy are to be directed to Australian news outlets and news production.
- The obligation applies whether or not a platform carries news content, which Meta had stopped doing in Australia under the earlier code.
- Sources differ on the final rate: most report 2.5%, while The Epoch Times and Engadget report 2.75%.
Context
How does this differ from Australia's 2021 News Media Bargaining Code?
The 2021 code was designed to push platforms into revenue-sharing deals with publishers, and dozens of agreements were struck Computing. But a platform could avoid the obligation by simply not carrying news, an option Meta used Next Web,International Busin…. The News Bargaining Incentive applies regardless of whether a platform distributes news, and replaces the earlier code theepochtimes.com,Next Web,Computing.
How can a platform reduce or eliminate what it owes?
A platform must sign commercial agreements with at least eight different Australian publishers before the end of its annual reporting period Economic Times,engadget,Yahoo! Finance. The value of those deals is offset against the levy liability, at 150% for large outlets and 200% for small and medium outlets theepochtimes.com,MediaNama. No single deal may cover more than 25% of the total liability Advanced-television,MediaNama.
What have Australian officials said about the intent of the law?
Assistant Treasurer Daniel Mulino and Communications Minister Anika Wells said in announcing the legislation on August 3, 2026 that the incentive "encourages digital platforms to make commercial deals with media organisations for use of their content rather than pay the incentive" International Busin…. The government has framed the proceeds as support for Australian journalism and news production Indian Television D…,storyboard18.com.
Where Left and Right agree, and where they split
- Where Left and Right agree
- News content platforms carry has real commercial value that publishers should be compensated for, and the levy's mechanics — the eight-publisher threshold, weighted offsets, the 25% cap — are what actually determine where money lands.
- Where Left and Right split
- Whether the story is about engineering payments outward to small and medium newsrooms, or about a statute setting a price that willing parties should have settled themselves.
How left and right read it
Journalism that platforms monetise should be paid for, and the design here matters more than the headline levy. Because deals with small and medium publishers earn a 200% offset against liability while large-publisher deals earn 150%, and no single deal can cover more than a quarter of what a platform owes, the incentive pushes money outward rather than into one dominant newsroom. Enforce it, and keep the proceeds in news production.
What a firm pays for another's content should be settled between willing parties, because only a freely struck price says what that content is worth. Instead the statute sets the terms: a levy on Australian advertising revenue, discharged only by deals with at least eight publishers, offsets weighted by publisher size, no single deal counting past a quarter of liability. Repeal it; let publishers and platforms bargain freely.
The receipts — all 28 sources
Wire services (3)
Independent coverage (25)
Facts first. Then every angle.
The day’s biggest stories in one short brief — the facts everyone agrees on, then the competing values behind the headlines. Free in your inbox.