Treasury estimated 30 deals previously struck by Australian media companies with Google and Meta were worth about $200 million to $250 million a year. Meta’s abandoning the code after three years is estimated to have cost hundreds of journalist jobs.
The idea is that the government is stepping in to address the asymmetric power imbalance between companies such as Nine Entertainment (which owns this masthead) and these international behemoths, who in the case of Google parent Alphabet and Meta have sharemarket capitalisations of $US3.5 trillion and $US1.5 trillion, respectively.
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It is noteworthy that the other major tech platform that signed up to the original bargaining code, Google, has continued with payments since the code’s introduction in 2021.
The proposed new law known as the Media Bargaining Incentive will capture social media and search platforms with Australian-derived revenue of at least $250 million, irrespective of whether they carry news content, according to details released by the assistant treasurer, Daniel Mulino.
Other companies snared by the legislation could include TikTok owner ByteDance, while Apple and Microsoft could be captured with their Apple News and LinkedIn platforms, respectively, if they meet the Australian revenue threshold.
The legislation has been sitting on the government backburner since the start of the year, but has reemerged since the bilateral trade talks between Anthony Albanese and Trump.
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While some Australian media companies were hoping Trump would have sympathy for foreign media businesses and their economic challenges in the face of America’s big tech platforms, the US president has shown little public regard for the media in the US or offshore; it has been more like disdain. He has recently threatened to sue the BBC and is seeking damages of $US10 billion from Rupert Murdoch’s The Wall Street Journal.
Over the past three years, he has also taken legal action against CNN, the American Broadcasting Company and CBS.
Trump’s recent chumminess with Albanese could be put to the test.
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