SYDNEY, April 28 (Reuters) - The Australian government said on Tuesday that Meta, Alphabet's Google and TikTok could face multimillion-dollar charges if they did not negotiate deals to pay local media outlets for news on their platforms.
A proposed News Bargaining Incentive would tax the three big tech companies 2.25% on their local revenues unless they struck agreements, with the proceeds to be directed to news companies to boost Australian journalism.
"People are increasingly getting their news directly from Facebook, from TikTok and from Google, and we believe it's only fair that large digital platforms contribute to the hard work of journalism that enriches their feeds and that drives their revenue," Communications Minister Anika Wells told a news conference.
"Platforms should do deals with news organisations. If they decide not to, they will end up paying more," she said.
U.S. President Donald Trump opposes digital services taxes on U.S. tech giants and has threatened tariffs on countries that pursue them.
"We’re a sovereign nation. And my government will make decisions based upon the Australian national interest," Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said at the same news conference.
Under the draft legislation, the levy would start from the 2025-26 financial year, which starts on July 1.
"The News Media Bargaining Incentive means that if a platform doesn't do a deal with a news publisher, the money will come to us and we will deliver that funding to news organisations based on how many journalists they employ," Wells said.
The platforms would get bigger offsets for deals struck with smaller organisations.
The News Bargaining Incentive is intended to replace 2021 laws that mandated tech firms pay for news content because those rules were "no longer working effectively," the government said.
After the move Meta briefly blocked users from reposting news articles, but later struck deals with several Australian media firms that expired in 2024.
A spokesperson for TikTok declined to comment, while Meta and Google did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
(Reporting by Christine Chen and Byron Kaye in Sydney; Editing by Kate Mayberry)
