The parent companies of Facebook, Google and Tiktok face paying hundreds of millions of dollars to the government unless they strike new deals with media companies to pay for news content in a bid to keep public interest journalism viable.
Starting January 1, the government will create a news contracting incentive to strengthen the existing news media contracting code passed in 2021.
He used the tax system to make it cheaper for the big tech companies running Australia’s social media and search engines to do deals with news organizations than to walk away.
Companies that do not reach agreements or cut cheap deals will have to pay a tax that the government will distribute to media organizations.
Assistant Treasurer Stephen Jones and Michelle Rowland said the new arrangements close loopholes and will ensure Australians can continue to access quality news content on digital platforms.
“Digital platforms derive huge financial benefits from Australia and have a social and economic responsibility to contribute to Australians’ access to quality journalism,” Mr Jones said.
Google and Meta have struck deals with media companies including Seven West Media – the owner of that masthead – Nine, News Corp and the ABC worth a total of about $200 million a year since the Morrison government introduced the negotiating code.
But while Google is renewing those deals, earlier this year Meta pulled back and limited news content on its platforms.
In Canada, which followed Australia’s lead, Meta blocked all news media content from Facebook and Instagram rather than pay publishers.
The new fees will apply to all social media and search companies that have annual revenues in Australia of more than $250 million, whether they carry news content or not.
At this stage, it is expected to catch Meta, Alphabet and Bytedance.
Any money the government collects under the new agreement will be distributed to media companies rather than increasing their budgets.
But the balance will be struck to make it cheaper for tech companies to strike deals, with protections in place to prevent them from striking a single big deal with a single media company.
While the details of the amount of fees and compensation are yet to be finalised, the government says they will not be lower than the value of agreements entered into under the existing code.
Nor has it determined the criteria for distributing the money raised to the media companies.
It will release a consultation paper for media and technology companies to respond to early in the new year, and hopes to legislate the new regime in the first part of the year.
The government has also earmarked further media support announcements in its mid-year budget update next week.
“The Albany Government is committed to a diverse and sustainable news media sector, given that this is critical to the health of democracy in Australia,” Ms Rowland said.
“Major digital platforms play an important role in providing access to news for all Australians and contributing to the sustainability of public interest journalism.”
