Australia Proposes Tax on Google, Meta, and TikTok to Fund Newsrooms

Australia’s government has proposed taxing digital giants Meta, Google, and TikTok on a portion of their revenue to fund newsrooms. The move comes as part of a broader effort to ensure sustainable journalism in the country.

The government released draft legislation on Tuesday, aiming to introduce it to Parliament by July 2. The proposed News Bargaining Incentive would impose a 2.25% tax on the Australian revenue of major platforms that fail to strike commercial deals with news publishers.

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese emphasized the need to value journalists’ work, stating:

“It shouldn’t just be able to be taken by a large multinational corporation and used to generate profits for that organisation with no compensation appropriate for the people who produce that creative content.”

“We think that investment in journalism is critical to a healthy democracy.”

This is Australia’s second legislative attempt to compel platforms to pay for news content. In 2021, the country passed the News Media Bargaining Code, which pressured platforms like Google and Meta to negotiate deals with news publishers. Many platforms complied to avoid arbitration but have since avoided renewing these deals by removing news content from their services.

The proposed tax is expected to generate between 200 to 250 million Australian dollars ($144 million–$179 million) annually. The funds would be distributed to news organizations based on the number of journalists they employ, according to Communication Minister Anika Wells.

The tax would apply to:

• Meta Platforms (owners of Facebook and Instagram)
• Google (owned by Alphabet Inc.)
• TikTok (majority-owned by U.S.-backed investors)

Opposition to the legislation has been swift. Meta argued that news organizations voluntarily post content on its platforms and derive value from doing so:

“The idea that we take their news content is simply wrong. This proposed legislation, which would apply to platforms regardless of whether news content even appears on our services, is nothing more than a digital services tax.”

“A government-mandated transfer of wealth from one industry to another, with no connection to the value exchanged, will not deliver a sustainable or innovative news sector. Instead, it will create a news industry dependent on a government-administered subsidy scheme.”

Google also rejected the proposal, stating:

“We reject the need for this tax. It ignores the fact that Google already has commercial agreements with the news industry, misunderstands how the ad market has changed, and mandates payments from some companies while arbitrarily excluding others.”