Australia Puts A Price On Big Tech’s Refusal To Pay For News
Australia has become the first country to attach a fixed price to big technology companies that refuse to pay for journalism, a shift that Nigerian publishers and regulators are following closely as they press a parallel case against the same firms at home.
The Australian Parliament passed the News Bargaining Incentive on Thursday, 20 August 2026. The law imposes a levy of 2.5 per cent on the Australian advertising revenue of qualifying platforms unless they strike commercial deals with local news publishers. According to Reuters, it applies to Meta, Alphabet’s Google, TikTok and Microsoft’s LinkedIn, covering firms that run a significant social media or search service in Australia and earn more than 250 million Australian dollars, about 178 million United States dollars, in local advertising revenue.
A platform can avoid the charge by reaching agreements with at least eight different publishers before the end of its financial reporting period, with the value of those deals set against what it would otherwise owe. The design favours smaller newsrooms. Spending with large publishers earns a 150 per cent offset, while spending with small and medium outlets earns 200 per cent, though any single deal is capped at 25 per cent of a platform’s total liability. The measure applies from the 2025 to 2026 financial year and excludes pure artificial intelligence chatbot services.
“The legislation is here, and the message to platforms to pursue commercial deals is clear,” the Australian government said in a statement, describing the day as “an important day for Australian news businesses and Australian journalism.”
The new law is Australia’s answer to a weakness in its own earlier scheme. The News Media Bargaining Code of 2021 pushed Google and Meta to negotiate with publishers and, according to reports, produced deals worth about 200 million Australian dollars a year. That framework could only be enforced against a platform that actually carried news. In 2024, Meta exploited the gap, declining to renew its agreements with News Corp, Nine, Seven and Ten and stating that “people don’t come to Facebook for news and political content.” Google renewed many of its deals.
The News Bargaining Incentive removes the escape route. A covered platform now faces the levy whether or not it hosts a single news article. The rate began at 2.25 per cent when the draft was unveiled in April, and LinkedIn was added alongside an increase to 2.5 per cent in early August, changes the Assistant Treasurer, Daniel Mulino, said did not alter the intent of the law.
Platforms have long resisted the principle. A Meta spokesperson argued earlier this year that “news organisations voluntarily post content on our platforms because they receive value from doing so.” Publishers reject that framing. News Corp Australasia’s executive chairman, Michael Miller, said “tech giants cannot keep dodging their obligations.” The tension is not academic. When Canada passed its Online News Act in 2023, Meta responded by blocking news for Canadian users, a restriction that remains in place.
For Nigeria, the timing is pointed. President Bola Tinubu in July 2026 directed the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission, FCCPC, to investigate Meta, Alphabet, X and generative AI platforms over allegations that they exploit Nigerian news content without fair compensation. The directive followed a petition by the Nigerian Press Organisation, the umbrella body for the country’s major media groups, which accused the platforms of anti competitive conduct that threatens their survival. The commission has stressed that opening an inquiry is not a finding of guilt and that the companies will be heard.
Nigeria’s move sits within a widening pattern. Canada’s Online News Act secured a reported 73 million United States dollar annual commitment from Google. In South Africa, following a competition inquiry, Google agreed to compensate local publishers at a level put by reports at about 688 million rand, roughly 40 million United States dollars, a year for between three and five years. The European Union granted publishers neighbouring rights under its 2019 Copyright Directive, requiring platforms to license content.
The debate is not one sided. Platforms maintain that search results, social sharing and referral traffic deliver audiences and revenue that publishers would not otherwise reach, and that the relationship is a fair exchange. Newsrooms counter that they bear the cost of producing original reporting while the platforms control the infrastructure of attention and capture the bulk of digital advertising. The rise of generative AI, which trains on published material, has sharpened the argument.
What is confirmed is that Australia has now set a concrete rate and closed the loophole that undermined its first attempt. What remains open, in Abuja as in Canberra, is whether the threat of a levy drives the platforms to the table or into another standoff. For Nigerian publishers watching the FCCPC process, the Australian result offers both a template and a warning.