Meta tipped to pay charge rather than strike media deals as sector awaits Jones' successor
The new assistant treasurer will come under heavy and immediate pressure from the tech and media industries over Labor's new levy on internet giants to fund journalism.
The successor to retired Assistant Treasurer Stephen Jones is set to face the full force of the media sector’s lobbying apparatus as executives hold out hope that Labor can force Meta into a fresh round of deals with publishers for news content.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is on Monday expected to announce who will replace Jones as part of a broader ministerial reshuffle, with Victorian MP Dr Daniel Mulino emerging as one of the favourites, alongside NSW Senator Tim Ayres.
No single policy has higher stakes for the Australian media sector than the News Bargaining Incentive, which was unveiled by Jones in December and is an update on the earlier Coalition government's News Media Bargaining Code. The code resulted in Google and Facebook parent Meta striking deals worth more than $200 million annually with publishers.
The Incentive was devised after Meta walked away from its deals, worth about $70 million, and has been pitched as a charge and offset scheme allowing tech companies which strike deals to offset a charge levied on their revenues.
