Australian Parliament passes levy bill on big tech to encourage deals with news outlets

Regulation
โดย Reuters·AU·Read original
Summary · why it matters

Australia's parliament passed a bill on the 20th that would impose levies of millions of dollars on big tech companies that fail to enter commercial agreements with domestic media outlets over the use of news on their platforms. Under the news bargaining incentive, if a designated company does not strike deals with media organisations, it will be charged a levy of 2.5 percent of its advertising revenue, with the proceeds distributed to Australian news outlets. The measure applies to Meta, Google under Alphabet, TikTok, and LinkedIn under Microsoft, targeting companies that operate a social media or search service of significant scale in Australia and have domestic advertising revenue exceeding 250 million Australian dollars, or 178 million US dollars. Platform operators can reduce the levy based on payments made if they sign deals with at least eight different news outlets by the end of the financial year. Amounts equivalent to 1.5 times spending on agreements with large news organisations, or twice spending on agreements with small and medium-sized outlets, can be offset against the levy. However, the amount deductible for a deal with any single news outlet is capped at 25 percent of the total levy, and agreements must involve either supporting the production of news content or making news content produced by the outlet available on the platform.

Impact on stocks 3

Artificial Intelligence▼ · 2 stocks
Alphabet Inc Class C
GOOG
▼ NegativeRegulationrelevance

Alphabet's Google is directly targeted by the new Australian levy bill on big tech for not paying news outlets.

Microsoft Corporation
MSFT
▼ NegativeRegulationrelevance

Microsoft's LinkedIn is included in the levy bill's scope, potentially facing charges if no agreements with Australian media.

Spatial Computing / AR/VR▼ · 1 stocks
Meta Platforms Inc.
META
▼ NegativeRegulationrelevance

Meta is directly targeted by the Australian levy bill, facing a 2.5% ad revenue charge if no deals with news outlets.

Off-coverage companies 1

ByteDancePrivate▼ Negative
Regulationrelevance

ByteDance's TikTok is subject to the new Australian levy, requiring deals with news outlets or paying a percentage of ad revenue.

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