Google, TikTok, and Meta could be taxed by Australia to fund its newsrooms

Australia is making a second attempt to ensure digital giants like Meta, Google, and TikTok pay for the Australian news content their users access. The government has proposed a new tax on these companies’ revenue to incentivize them to compensate news organizations for journalism. This draft legislation, expected to be introduced by July 2, aims to encourage platforms to make deals with news publishers. Previously, a 2021 law pressured these platforms to pay for news content, but they have since avoided renewing agreements by removing news from their services. The new proposal, called the News Bargaining Incentive, would impose a 2.25% tax on the Australian revenue of platforms that do not make commercial deals with news publishers. The government plans to distribute the tax revenue among news organizations based on their number of journalists. While the government argues this is crucial for supporting journalism and democracy, platforms like Meta criticize the proposal as a misunderstanding of the digital advertising industry, labeling it a “digital services tax.” QUESTION: How might the introduction of this tax impact the relationship between digital platforms and news organizations in the future?