The Australian government on Monday announced the final details of its News Bargaining Incentive (NBI), pushing Meta, Google, TikTok and now LinkedIn to pay for news or face a levy on their Australian digital advertising revenue.
Under the finalized legislation, platforms that fail to strike deals with publishers will pay a levy of 2.5% of their Australian digital advertising revenue — narrowed from the April draft's 2.25% levy on overall Australian revenue after tech companies argued most of their business has nothing to do with news. Communications Minister Anika Wells also doubled the "distribution loading" that channels extra funds to smaller and regional publishers, in recognition of the challenges small outlets face.
Platforms can avoid the levy entirely by signing deals with at least six publishers: every dollar spent on deals with big media companies cancels $1.50 of the levy owed, while every dollar spent with small, local publishers cancels $2. News Corp Australasia's executive chairman Michael Miller said the changes make it too easy for platforms to avoid the levy — "tech giants cannot keep dodging their obligations." Meta has argued that news organizations voluntarily post content on its platforms because they receive value from doing so.
The scheme echoes Canada's 2023 Online News Act, after which Meta blocked news on its platforms — Canadian news remains absent from Instagram to this day. Whether the platforms sign deals, pay up, or pull out of Australian news entirely is the open question as the legislation heads to Parliament.
