Australia Slaps 2.5% Levy on Tech Giants for News Deals

Australia has introduced a new levy on tech giants that fail to reach commercial agreements with local news publishers. The News Bargaining Incentive imposes a 2.5% charge on Australian advertising revenue for qualifying platforms.

The new rule applies to Meta Platforms Inc., Alphabet Inc., and Microsoft Corp., among others, requiring them to generate over A$250 million ($178 million) in local ad revenue to fall under the scheme.

Platforms can avoid the levy by reaching agreements with at least eight publishers before the end of their reporting period. Companies are incentivized to spread deals across the media industry as spending with smaller publishers receives a larger offset.