Digital giants including Meta, TikTok and Google could be forced to pay up to $250 million to the Australian government, which would then be distributed to media companies, if they refuse to strike deals to pay for local journalism.
Despite the risk of a backlash from the pro-tech Trump administration, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Tuesday released draft laws proposing a tax worth 2.25 per cent of tech firms’ revenue if they do not strike voluntary agreements with media companies to compensate them for news hosted on social media and search engines.
Australia has insisted in its public messaging that the charge on tech giants would not constitute a tax, which could trigger the ire of the US administration and possibly lead to tariffs on Australia.
The government said it would not put any revenue into Commonwealth coffers, insisting it would distribute money to media firms based on how many journalists they employ.
Albanese dismissed the Trump administration’s objections to the scheme during a press conference on Tuesday.
“We’re a sovereign nation,” the prime minister said.
“This is not about government revenue. Every single dollar will go back to journalists. We think that investment in journalism is critical to a healthy democracy. It matters.”
Albanese added that local journalism shouldn’t “be taken by a large multinational corporation and used to generate profits”.
The draft laws, which have been delayed for many months amid worry about the US reaction, were required after Meta, which owns Instagram and Facebook, pulled out of a Morrison-era scheme that drew in hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue for media companies.
Meta said it would simply pull news off its platforms, prompting the government to re-jig its framework to guard against the risk of Meta blocking news links, as it has done in Canada for several years.
More to come.
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Paul Sakkal is Chief Political Correspondent. He previously covered Victorian politics and won a Walkley award and the 2025 Press Gallery Journalist of the Year. Contact him securely on Signal @paulsakkal.14.Connect via X or email.
David Swan is the technology editor for The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald. He was previously technology editor for The Australian newspaper.Connect via X or email.From our partners
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: www.smh.com.au
