Global social media giants will have to make deals with eight Australian news firms to avoid additional taxes. Photo: hocus-focus.
Google, Meta and other giant tech companies that share Australian-produced news on their platforms will soon have to strike deals with even more local media firms to avoid an extra 2.5 per cent tax.
Revised legislation aimed at protecting Australian journalism and news media has been introduced to Federal Parliament, following talks between Anthony Albanese and Angus Taylor.
The Prime Minister and Opposition Leader met to discuss last-minute changes to Labor’s News Bargaining Incentive and the News Journalism Payments bills, to reach agreement for them to pass both Houses.
The biggest change to come from those talks and wider consultation is that the big tech companies will have to make deals with eight local media outlets, up from six stipulated in the previous draft and four in an even earlier draft.
The bills address a limitation in the long-standing News Media Bargaining Code that has allowed digital platforms to avoid paying for news content by removing news from their service.
The legislation now also reinstates the per-deal cap of 25 per cent of the total levy, ensuring that more appropriate offsets are available to Australian media organisations of all sizes, more closely reflecting their reach and significance in the market.
This rule limits any single commercial agreement between a tech platform and a news outlet from offsetting more than a quarter of the platform’s total levy liability.
The year the base rate is calculated is also being brought forward by two years, rather than three, to better reflect the actual state of deals in the Australian market in recent years.
And 5 per cent of the incentive’s funds will be directed to the Australian Associated Press (AAP) in recognition of its role in supporting public-interest journalism and news organisations across Australia.
Another special allocation of 5 per cent of revenue raised will go into a grants scheme to help small publishers and start-ups in local communities.
In introducing the bills to the House of Representatives on Thursday (13 August), Communications Minister Anika Wells said the legislation aimed to encourage commercial deals between digital platforms and news publishers.
“Journalism matters. It matters to our democracy, to the health and cohesion of our communities, and to Australians who rely on trusted reporting to understand what is happening locally, nationally and around the world,” she said.
“Quality journalism is costly to produce, and the economics of producing news have changed.”
The minister said the Federal Government was “delivering for journalists” to ensure they get their fair share from digital platforms that benefit from Australian news.
“A diverse, strong and sustainable media sector is an essential part of a robust democracy,” Ms Wells said.
“People access news in different ways and from different sources, which is why we made changes to the distribution scheme to better support smaller and diverse media organisations.”
Assistant Treasurer Daniel Mulino was earlier doing the media rounds to spruik the revised legislation.
He described it as a “significant day for the future of Australian journalism” and said the legislation delivers a “very strong incentive” for big tech to enter into agreements with regional media, culturally diverse media and LGBTQI media in Australia.
“We want to see deals between digital platforms and a diverse range of media organisations to ensure fair recompense for the use of content,” he said.
“We also want to ensure the media sector is strengthened from large companies to small ones, recognising the significant benefits strong journalism brings to communities across the nation.”
Mr Mulino said Australia’s media companies would receive more money under the revised legislation.
“We’re changing the reference year to one year forward; it incorporates another year of growth in digital advertising revenue,” he said.
“So the total pool for media will be bigger by that year of growth.”
LinkedIn will no longer be exempt from Australian laws requiring global tech giants to pay for news content on their platforms, if it wants to avoid the increased taxes.
Google, Meta, TikTok and now the Microsoft-owned LinkedIn will all have to make deals with eight media organisations, or pay 2.5 per cent of their digital revenue generated in Australia.
The penalty levy is applied to eligible tech companies with $250 million or more in local digital advertising revenue.
Original Article published by Chris Johnson on Region Canberra.
