Australia’s parliament passed the News Bargaining Incentive law on August 20, 2026. This legislation imposes a 2.5% levy on the Australian advertising revenue of major technology companies. The tax targets firms with local annual advertising revenues exceeding A$250 million. Affected entities include Google, Meta, TikTok, and Microsoft’s LinkedIn.
The government will distribute collected funds to local Australian news outlets. These payments compensate publishers for content that generates user engagement on tech platforms.
Companies can avoid the levy by securing commercial deals with at least eight local news publishers. These agreements must conclude before the end of the company's financial reporting period. The law provides weighted offsets for deals with smaller publishers to ensure broad industry support. No single deal can offset more than 25% of a platform’s total tax liability.