Australia hikes big tech fee to fund local news

Australia’s government plans to expand the scope and raise the charges to be imposed on Big Tech companies to encourage them to do deals with local media.

The government will introduce legislation later in the year on the “news bargaining initiative,” according to an official statement.

The government said in 2024, when it announced that initiative, that it anticipated the law would apply to Meta Platforms Inc., Alphabet Inc.’s Google and TikTok.

That has now been expanded to cover professional networking platforms, according to a document reviewed by Bloomberg News.

Microsoft Corp.’s LinkedIn is among the largest such platforms.

The initiative will impose charges on digital platforms that choose not to enter into commercial agreements with Australian news publishers to carry their content. However, if the platforms do enter into such pacts, they could offset or even cancel out that charge.

“Australian journalism is important to a well-functioning democracy and we want it to be sustainable now and into the future,” Assistant Treasurer Daniel Mulino said in a statement. “We want digital platforms to do deals with a diverse range of media organisations and have shown good faith with both the platforms and media companies during the consultation process.”

In the bill to be introduced, any digital platforms that make over A$250 million ($175 million) in annual digital advertising revenue from search or social media in Australia will be charged 2.5% of those revenues, with the money then meant to be paid to media firms to subsidize their work.

Draft legislation released in April had a 2.25% charge imposed on relevant firms that had A$250 million in revenue attributable to any kind of business in Australia.