MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) – The Australian government said Thursday it will tax major digital platforms and search engines unless they agree to share revenue with Australian news organizations.
The tax will apply from January 1 to tech companies that earn more than A$250 million (about 16 billion yen) a year from Australia, according to Deputy Treasurer Stephen Jones and Communications Minister Michelle Rowland. He said.
They include: metaGoogle Owner alphabet and part time dancethe Chinese owner of TikTok.
This tax would be offset by money paid to Australian news organizations. The amount of tax is not clear. But the government is aiming to share revenue with news organizations as a cheaper option.
“The real objective…is not to make a profit. We don’t want to make a profit. The real objective is to facilitate agreements between Australian platforms and news media companies.” Jones told reporters.
The move comes after Meta, which owns Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, announced it would not renew a three-year agreement to pay Australian news publishers for their content.
The previous government introduced the following laws in 2021: News Media Bargaining Code As a result, tech giants must enter into revenue-sharing agreements with Australian media companies or face fines of 10% of their Australian revenue.
Meta said in a statement that the current law is flawed and the company remains “concerned about requiring one industry to subsidize another.”
“This proposal fails to account for the reality of how our platforms work. Specifically, most people don’t come to our platforms for news content; “News publishers voluntarily choose to post content on our platform because they derive value from doing so,” the statement said.
Google has signed revenue sharing agreements with more than 80 Australian news companies over the past three years and has committed to renewing those agreements.
But Google has questioned the government’s new approach.
“The government’s introduction of a targeted tax jeopardizes the viability of our continued commercial relationship with Australian news publishers,” Google said in a statement.
Google added: “We are reviewing today’s announcement and will make further announcements once we have fully assessed the impact.”
TikTok pointed out that users don’t want news.
“As an entertainment platform, TikTok has never been the place to provide news. We are actively engaged in the consultation process and look forward to hearing further details,” TikTok’s statement said.
Jones said Australian officials had briefed officials in the United States, where most of the digital giants are headquartered, of the government’s intentions. President-elect Donald Trump’s administration plans to increase tariffs on some countries, potentially sparking a trade war.
“We want them to understand why, and also understand that this is not a tax in the normal sense,” Jones said.
“This is an incentive to strengthen the laws that exist in Australia from 2021,” he added.
Mr Rowland said revenue sharing was necessary to protect Australia’s democracy.
“The rapid growth of digital platforms in recent years has disrupted Australia’s media landscape and threatens the survival of public interest journalism,” Mr Rowland said.
“The policy intent here is very clear: to encourage trade between digital platforms, search engines and Australian news publishers to support the health of our democracy,” she said. added.
