Australia passes new law requiring major tech platforms to fund publication of local news content

Australia has passed legislation that would require major online platforms to compensate Australian news publishers for displaying their content, with the government saying the rules are intended to address the revenue gap faced by newsrooms as audiences move to digital feeds.

Under the new framework, large tech companies including Google and Meta must negotiate agreements with Australian news businesses to license or otherwise pay for content they publish or distribute. If companies and publishers do not reach deals, the law provides for an alternative payment mechanism in the form of a levy calculated by reference to advertising revenue derived from those platforms, according to NPR’s report on the legislation.

The legislation, approved this month, is designed to formalize a bargaining process between platforms and publishers rather than leaving payments to voluntary arrangements. The stated goal is to ensure that when platforms profit from referrals and advertising in connection with news content, local publishers receive compensation that helps sustain reporting.

The policy follows Australia’s broader effort to regulate the way large digital platforms interact with public-interest media. Supporters of the measure argue that without enforceable terms, small and mid-sized news publishers have limited leverage to recover costs such as newsroom staffing, reporting expenses, and editorial operations.

For platforms covered by the law, the practical effect is a new compliance requirement to either conduct negotiations on licensing terms with eligible news outlets or pay into the levy system when negotiations do not produce an agreement. The arrangement is structured to tie financial obligations to platform revenue, focusing on the commercial link between news distribution on social feeds and advertising earnings.

The law also raises operational questions for publishers and platforms, including how licensing agreements will be negotiated in practice and how disputes will be handled if the parties cannot agree. While the measure creates a pathway to payment, it does not eliminate uncertainty over implementation timelines, the scope of which publishers qualify, or how platform revenue used for the levy calculation is determined in contested cases.

NPR reported that the legislation will bring Australia into a more explicit model of mandated payments for news content rather than relying solely on voluntary bargaining. Implementation is expected to begin following the law’s passage, with covered companies and publishers moving toward negotiations or the levy route, depending on whether commercial agreements are reached.