Sydney (AFP) – The Australian government presented a bill on Tuesday to encourage Meta, Google and TikTok to enter into agreements with Australian media to better remunerate them, otherwise these tech giants will have to pay compensation.

Published on: 04/28/2026 - 08:55

Traditional media are struggling to survive in many countries as more and more readers turn to free social media.

According to supporters of the bill, these platforms attract users with information and thus capture advertising revenue that should instead go to the media.

Labor Prime Minister Anthony Albanese explained that Meta, Google and TikTok will initially be able to enter into commercial agreements with local media.

If they refuse, they will have to pay an amount equivalent to 2.25% of their turnover in Australia, he added, specifying that this money would be redistributed to the news media sector.

“At this stage, the three organizations concerned are Meta, Google and TikTok,” he said, given their turnover and their significant number of users in the country.

“Large platforms cannot evade their obligations” towards the media, already established by a previous law, insisted Mr. Albanese.

This new bill aims to close the loopholes in a previous text which allowed companies to avoid the tax by simply removing news from their platforms - a process that Meta and Google have already resorted to in the past, and which Australia wants to prevent.

Filling the gaps

“What we encourage is that they (the tech giants, editor’s note) sit down with the press organizations and that they conclude these agreements,” reaffirmed Anthony Albanese.

In 2024, when Canberra discussed similar legislative measures, Meta, Facebook's parent company, announced that Australian users would no longer be able to access the platform's "news" tab.

The company had previously announced that it would not renew agreements concluded with media outlets in the United States, the United Kingdom, France and Germany.

Journalism must have "pecuniary value", argued the Australian Prime Minister, and not be used by a large multinational "to generate profits without compensation".

But Meta says he sees in this text “nothing other than a tax on digital services”.

“Press organizations voluntarily publish content on our platforms because they benefit from it,” responded a spokesperson in a press release sent to AFP. “The idea that we would take their news content from them is simply false.”

For its part, Google indicated that it had already concluded commercial agreements with more than 90 local media, and was the only technology group in Australia to have done so.

“While we are currently reviewing the bill, our position is clear: we reject the need for this tax,” a Google spokesperson said in a statement to AFP.

The company also ruled that the exclusion of other major platforms such as Microsoft, Snapchat and OpenAI was absolutely arbitrary.

According to the University of Canberra, more than half of Australians use social media as a source of information.

The bill was submitted for public consultation on Tuesday, which will end in May. It is then expected to be presented to Parliament later this year.

© 2026 AFP

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