CPI | Australia Reworks Big Tech News Levy After Publisher Backlash
PYMNTS | Australia Reworks Big Tech News Levy After Publisher Backlash
Australia Reworks Big Tech News Levy After Publisher Backlash
ByCPI | August 13, 2026
Australia has revised a landmark plan requiring major technology platforms to financially support domestic journalism, reversing part of an earlier proposal after opposition from media companies and negotiations between the government and the opposition
The Albanese government’s News Bargaining Incentive (NBI) is designed to encourage large digital platforms to strike commercial agreements with Australian news publishers. Companies that fail to make sufficient deals could instead face a government charge based on their Australian digital advertising revenue
Under the legislation introduced to Parliament on Thursday, major platforms will need qualifying agreements with at least eight Australian news outlets, an increase from six under an earlier version of the proposal. The government has also restored a provision allowing an individual publisher agreement to offset as much as 25% of a platform’s total liability
The changes amount to a partial reversal for Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s government, which had faced criticism from Australian publishers over revisions they argued would weaken the incentive for technology companies to negotiate substantial commercial agreements
A proposal to reduce the maximum contribution represented by a single publisher agreement to roughly 17% has now been abandoned. The 25% ceiling has been restored following negotiations between Albanese and opposition leader Angus Taylor
The government has also provided additional support for smaller and independent news organizations. Five percent of any money collected through the incentive will be allocated to Australian Associated Press (AAP), the nonprofit national newswire that supplies reporting to numerous Australian publishers
Levy Still Based on Advertising Revenue
One of the most consequential changes to the policy, however, remains intact
The government previously narrowed the revenue base used to calculate the charge. Rather than applying the levy to a platform’s broader Australian revenue, the final framework applies a 2.5% charge to Australian digital advertising revenue
That distinction could substantially reduce the potential liability faced by technology companies
Media executives have argued that narrowing the revenue base could reduce the amount of money ultimately flowing to journalism. The government says the revised framework nevertheless creates a meaningful incentive for platforms to negotiate with publishers instead of paying the charge
The NBI potentially affects some of the world’s largest digital platforms, including Google, Meta, TikTok and LinkedIn
The dispute is the latest stage in Australia’s long-running attempt to address the imbalance between digital platforms and news publishers. Australia introduced its News Media Bargaining Code in 2021, seeking to encourage Google and Meta to compensate publishers for news content
The government later concluded that the system contained a significant weakness: a platform could potentially avoid bargaining obligations by removing news from its services altogether
The NBI was first announced in December 2024 as an attempt to close that loophole. Unlike the earlier model, the incentive can apply to qualifying platforms regardless of whether they choose to carry news, according to the government
Meta Dispute Raises the Stakes
The policy became particularly important after Meta moved away from renewing commercial agreements with Australian publishers
The company has also challenged Australia’s approach more broadly. In June, Meta argued that the proposed levy could violate the Australia–United States Free Trade Agreement and raised the possibility of U.S. trade action
Australia has nevertheless continued with the legislation
The government says its objective is not primarily to collect a new tax from technology companies. Instead, the threat of the charge is intended to make negotiating commercial agreements with news organizations the more attractive option
“The Government wants Australians to continue to have access to quality news content on digital platforms,” the government said when it originally announced the incentive in 2024, arguing that digital platforms have an economic and social responsibility to contribute to Australian journalism
That structure makes the NBI unusual: its success could ultimately be measured by how little money the government collects. If platforms sign sufficient agreements with publishers, their liability can be offset by those commercial payments
Australia Tests a New Model for Funding Journalism
The Australian experiment will be closely watched beyond the country’s borders
Governments around the world have struggled with the decline of traditional advertising revenue at newspapers and other news organizations while Google, Meta and other digital businesses have captured a large share of online advertising
Australia was already an international test case when it adopted the 2021 bargaining code. The NBI takes the strategy further by attempting to prevent platforms from escaping the system simply by reducing or eliminating news distribution
The latest amendments also reveal the difficult balance facing policymakers
Technology companies have opposed measures they view as discriminatory taxes or mandatory payments for links and content, while publishers argue that weak financial incentives will fail to compensate journalism for the economic value generated by digital platforms
Australia’s government has now moved somewhat closer to the publishers’ position by restoring the 25% individual-deal limit and increasing the required number of publisher agreements to eight. At the same time, its decision to retain the narrower advertising-revenue calculation represents a significant concession to the platforms
Source: MLex
