Meta, the owner of Facebook, WhatsApp, and Instagram, on June 6 vehemently criticized the Australian government's latest plan to compel digital platforms to financially support news outlets, labeling the proposals as 'poorly designed' and 'grossly unfair'.
Under the plan unveiled in April by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese's Labor government, social media platforms and search engines would face a 2.25% levy on their Australian revenue if they fail to reach agreements to pay local news outlets for using their content. Platforms that secure a minimum number of commercial deals could reduce the levy to 1.5%. The revenue from this levy would be distributed to news outlets based on the number of journalists they employ.
In a submission to the Australian government, Meta argued that the News Bargaining Incentive (NBI) would shield news publishers from the need to innovate for a sustainable media environment. 'The NBI does the opposite: it protects publishers from competitive pressure to evolve by guaranteeing revenue regardless of whether they build sustainable business models, reinforcing dependency at a time when adaptation is most crucial,' the California-based tech giant stated.
Meta also declared the 'uneconomic' proposals would not lead to a sustainable news industry and 'clearly' violate Australia's commitments under the U.S.-Australia free trade agreement. 'A strong, independent press cannot be built on punitive taxes levied on foreign companies, unrelated to the value of exchange,' Meta emphasized.
The proposals specifically target Meta, Google, and ByteDance (owner of TikTok), but do not apply to AI developers also influencing search traffic, such as OpenAI (owner of ChatGPT). This new plan aims to replace the previous government's News Media Bargaining Code, which Meta and other tech companies had neutralized by pulling news content from their platforms.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, when announcing the plan in April, pledged to 'support Australian journalists and Australian news', stressing that 'local news matters to local communities, and these stories cannot be told without Australian journalists'. The Australian government estimates the new program, if passed by parliament, would generate between A$200 million and A$250 million (US$143-178 million) for local news outlets.
Like many places, Australia's media industry has been severely impacted by the collapse of advertising revenue, which once supported a thriving industry during the golden age of print. According to the Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance, Australia's main media union, more than 19,500 journalism jobs have been lost since 2008.
