Australia passes Big Tech news levy law

Australia passed legislation on August 20, 2026, establishing the News Bargaining Incentive, which imposes a 2.5% levy on the Australian advertising revenue of major digital platforms—including Meta, Alphabet Inc., ByteDance — TikTok Shop, and LinkedIn—unless they strike commercial deals with local news outlets. The law, a revamp of the 2021 media bargaining code, requires platforms to reach agreements with at least eight different publishers by the end of their reporting period to offset the levy. Spending with large publishers carries a 150% offset, while small and medium outlets carry a 200% offset, and any single deal is capped at 25% of a platform's levy liability. The legislation also allocates 5% of funds raised to the Associated Press (AAP), the nonprofit newswire. The law applies to companies with significant social media or search services in Australia and local advertising revenue exceeding A$250 million. The government increased the levy from an earlier 2.25% proposal and removed an exemption for professional networking platforms, bringing LinkedIn into scope. The law aims to channel advertising revenue to support local journalism and public-interest news production.