TikTok, Meta frozen out in final months of tech levy talks
Assistant Treasurer Stephen Jones took meetings with several media executives in the months before taking media reforms to cabinet. But he did not meet with two of the platforms captured by Labor's new tech levy.
Assistant Treasurer Stephen Jones did not meet with two of the three global technology companies set to be immediately captured by Labor’s new tech levy over a five-month period before the policy was taken to cabinet.
According to a copy of Jones’s diary, obtained by Capital Brief under freedom of information laws, the assistant treasurer had at least five meetings with news publishing businesses between 9 July and 17 November.
However, he did not meet with Facebook and Instagram owner Meta, or ByteDance-owned TikTok, during the same period. The government’s media reforms went to cabinet one week later on 23 November, sources have previously confirmed to Capital Brief.
Over the same period, Jones carved out two hours on 20 August for a dinner with representatives of Alphabet-owned Google, which would months later go on to describe the new policy as a “targeted tax” that puts deals the search giant has with Australian news publishers at risk.
