Australia is revamping its media laws to make major tech platforms sign deals with more local news outlets and ensure more revenue reaches Australian journalism.
After becoming one of the first countries in the world to introduce laws to make tech giants like Google and Meta pay for publishers’ content, the country is now pushing the companies to sign more deals with the local news organisations. According to Reuters, the new legislation is expected to be introduced in Parliament for its media licensing laws on Thursday.
Under the new proposed changes, digital platforms will have to make agreements with at least eight Australian media companies. This is an increase from the six organisations required under an earlier version of the proposal.
According to the report, the government says these changes will notably make sure that more advertising-related revenue reaches Australian news organisations, including smaller and diverse media outlets.
New Limit On Individual Deals
These revised plans will also bring back a limit on how much of a technology company’s liability can be covered by a single agreement. Under the proposal, no single deal can account for more than 25 per cent of a platform’s levy liability. The levy is set at 2.5 per cent of a company’s Australian advertising revenue.
Technology companies can reduce the amount they have to pay under the scheme based on the value of the commercial agreements they reach with news organisations. According to the Aussies, the proposed system will help direct more revenue toward the local news outlets, which have been facing growing financial pressure as advertising has shifted to digital platforms.
Additionally, the revised legislation will also offer five per cent of the money raised under the scheme to Australian Associated Press (AAP).
AAP is a non-profit newswire that offers news reports, photos and videos to media organisations across the country. This organisation even faced the possibility of being shut down in 2020 before being saved through a new ownership and funding structure.
To recall, Australia is among the top countries that introduced its original media bargaining framework in 2021. The law needed major tech giants to negotiate payments with news companies for the use of their content. Meta and Google subsequently reached commercial agreements with various Australian publishers.