The Australian Parliament on Thursday passed the News Bargaining Incentive Act, which introduces a mandatory levy of 2.5% on the advertising revenue of the largest technology companies operating in the Australian market if they refuse to conclude commercial agreements with local publishing houses over the placement of news content. The bill is designed to compensate publishers for losses caused by users shifting from direct site visits to search and social platforms that use journalistic material without paying royalties or licensing fees.
Levy mechanics and threshold of application
According to the text of the law, the new rules apply to companies that simultaneously operate major search or social services in Australia and whose advertising revenue exceeds 250 million Australian dollars (approximately 178 million US dollars). For such companies that have not reached an agreement with publishers, a tax of 2.5% of advertising revenue is imposed. According to analyst estimates, for the largest platforms this means multi-million-dollar payments each year, making it economically more advantageous to conclude commercial contracts with media than to pay the levy.
Who will be affected by the new rules
The law directly covers several global tech giants: Meta (designated as extremist and banned in the Russian Federation), Google, TikTok, as well as Microsoft through its LinkedIn service (also banned in the Russian Federation). It is these platforms that generate the bulk of traffic to news content from Australian publications via search results, news feeds, and aggregators. For small local services, the 250 million AUD threshold is generally not a barrier, so the main burden will fall precisely on the corporations listed.
How platforms can avoid the levy
The law provides for an "incentive" credit mechanism: a platform is fully exempt from paying the 2.5% levy if, by the end of its reporting period, it concludes partnership agreements with at least eight different local publishers. At the same time, the legislator introduced a differentiated expense-recognition coefficient: spending on deals with small and medium-sized media is counted with an increased multiplier of 200%, while cooperation with major publishing houses yields a credit of 150%. This structure encourages tech giants to distribute payments not only among a few large media groups but also to support the ecosystem of regional and niche publications.
Context and implications for the media market
The adopted law continues the line started by Australia back in 2021, when the country became the first in the world to introduce a so-called "antitrust" code of conduct for digital platforms (the News Media Bargaining Code), requiring them to negotiate with publishers over compensation for content use. The new News Bargaining Incentive strengthens the previous mechanism by adding a financial "stick" — a direct tax — making refusal to negotiate with media economically unattractive. Experts note that similar initiatives are being discussed in the EU, Canada, and a number of Oceanian countries, and the Australian experience may become a reference point for future regulatory decisions in the digital media market.
