Australia has introduced draft legislation aimed at requiring major tech companies to financially compensate local media outlets for news content shared on their platforms, or face a levy on their revenue.
Under the proposal announced by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, companies such as Meta Platforms, Google, and TikTok would be given the option to voluntarily negotiate payment agreements with Australian news publishers.
If they fail to reach such deals, the firms could be subjected to a compulsory charge equivalent to 2.25 percent of their Australian revenue, according to the government.
Officials said the move is intended to ensure fair compensation for journalism, as traditional media organisations continue to lose advertising revenue to digital platforms that benefit from news content shared on their services.
The proposed law also seeks to close loopholes in earlier regulations that allowed platforms to avoid payments by removing news content altogether. Similar actions were previously taken by Meta and Google in other markets when faced with comparable rules.
The Australian government argues that social media platforms profit significantly from news-driven traffic and should contribute to sustaining the journalism ecosystem that generates it.
The draft legislation is currently open for public consultation and is expected to be presented to parliament later in the year.
