The Australian government, through Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Communications Minister Anika Wells, has released draft legislation for a news bargaining incentive (NBI) scheme. The proposed laws would require digital giants, including Meta, Google, and TikTok, to compensate local publishers for sharing news articles that drive traffic to their platforms.
Under the scheme, platforms that fail to negotiate deals with media outlets would face a levy of 2.25 percent of their Australian revenue, which could result in multimillion-dollar charges. However, platforms that sign new deals to pay for news content would receive full or partial offsets against the levy, ranging from 150 to 170 percent.
The government aims to support struggling media outlets and curb the dominance of global tech platforms, with Prime Minister Albanese warning that digital giants should not be able to exploit the work of journalists to boost profits. The NBI scheme is set to apply from 1 July 2026 and explicitly excludes pure AI chatbot services from its coverage.