Labor moving too slowly on making big tech pay Australian media for news, Coalition and Greens say

The Guardian

17-02-2025

The Coalition and Greens have attacked federal Labor for moving too slowly to come up with a new way of making big tech companies pay Australian media companies for news content.
The design of the new initiative is yet to be determined, and a consultation paper on the code was due to be released early this year. But the threat of retaliatory tariffs from the US have fuelled concerns the news bargaining incentive, announced in December, could be delayed.
The shadow communications minister, Melissa McIntosh, said the Coalition was 'committed' to implementing an updated code, which was expected to reap tens of millions of dollars from platforms.
'The Albanese Labor government has failed the media industry in this country with no action on the news media bargaining code for over a year … [and] it is now getting caught up in the US tariffs dispute,' she said.
'This was meant to be a world-leading competition policy, but Labor's slow lane approach is harming Australian media … the Coalition supports competition policy.'
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The Greens have also criticised the delay, saying the US president, Donald Trump, and 'tech bro billionaires' are a democratic threat.
The Greens communication spokesperson, Sarah Hanson-Young, has asked the government whether all policies to crack down on the tech platforms, including a digital duty of care and social media age bans, would also be abandoned.
'Cowering to the bully won't protect Australia's interests or ensure public interest journalism is protected,' Hanson-Young said.
'The tech bro billionaires and President Trump are a threat to democracy and they will not respect a strategy of appeasement and delay.'
The news bargaining incentive (NBI) would force designated tech platforms to do deals with news organisations to help fund journalism, or pay a charge to the federal government.
This was to counter Meta's decision not to renew any of the deals it made with organisations under the previous Morrison-era news media bargaining code, established in 2021.
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Guardian Australia understands the Treasury is still working on a consultation paper, but the opposition has said it has not been given a briefing or seen the design of the initiative.
A government spokesperson told Guardian Australia 'the government is continuing to work constructively with stakeholders on the news bargaining initiative'.
In Canada, the government tried to 'designate' Meta as a platform under its own code to force it to pay for news content. In response, Meta removed all news content and blocked Canadian users from accessing or sharing news content from its platforms.
In October, a Labor-led parliamentary committee into social media released a report recommending a 'digital platform levy' be introduced to help pay for public interest journalism.
Social media platforms have resisted the recommendation, and told parliament it ignores 'the realities of how our platforms work', and the value platforms bring to news outlets.