Australia forces Big Tech firms to pay for news or face a 2.25% tax

Australia has proposed a News Bargaining Incentive that would push Meta, Google, and TikTok to pay local news outlets or face a 2.25% charge on their Australian revenue.

The draft law is meant to replace the 2021 bargaining code after Meta previously sidestepped it by removing news content.

AI services are excluded from the measure, which targets major tech platforms that benefit from journalism without adequately paying for it.

The government says the plan is intended to support Australian newsrooms and close a loophole that let platforms avoid compensation by dropping news.