- Draft bill – Administration here
- Draft bill – Consequential Amendment here
- Draft bill – Explanatory Materials here
- Australian Government press release here
The Australian government, on April 28, 2026, released draft laws to introduce a ‘News Bargaining Incentive’ that would require large digital platforms to either pay news publishers through commercial deals or face a levy on their revenue. The proposal targets companies like Google, Meta, and TikTok, which have significant revenue and user bases in Australia. Public consultation on the proposal is open until May 18.
Who will be covered and how the charge works: The proposal targets companies that run major social media or search services and have significant revenue linked to Australia. Under the draft framework, platforms with more than $250 million in Australian-linked revenue and at least 5 million social media users or a 10 million-user search base would be required to pay a charge equal to 2.25% of their revenue base. The base is calculated using revenue from previous financial years.
The charge can be reduced or fully offset if companies enter into agreements with Australian news organisations to pay for news content. The system also incentivises deals with smaller publishers by offering higher offsets for those agreements. Companies must strike deals with multiple news organisations to fully offset their liability.
Shift from earlier code and redistribution plan: The move follows the breakdown of earlier agreements under Australia’s News Media Bargaining Code. This came after Meta declined to renew deals worth about $70 million and instead reduced or removed news from its platforms. The original Code, introduced in 2021, was designed to address bargaining power imbalances between digital platforms and news publishers by pushing companies like Google and Meta into commercial agreements with media organisations. However, regulators later faced challenges as platforms either threatened to block news content or reduced news availability altogether to avoid payment obligations. The new model also aims to close a loophole that allowed companies to avoid payments by dropping news content altogether.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said: “Journalists are the lifeblood of Australia’s media sector, playing a vital role in keeping communities informed about the issues that matter to them. Local news matters to communities, and these stories can’t be told without Australian journalists. My Government will always back Australian journalists and Australian news.”
Tech companies have strongly opposed the plan. Meta said: “This proposed legislation, which would apply to platforms regardless of whether news content even appears on our services, is nothing more than a digital services tax,” and added that a “government-mandated transfer of wealth” would not create a sustainable news sector.
Google also rejected the proposal, stating:…
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