Media's Christmas bonus
Labor has revealed its plan to force tech giants to provide funding for Australia's news industry. While the big media companies are upbeat, many questions remain.
If the ultimate goal of Labor’s renewed effort to force tech platforms to pay for news was to appease Australia's media giants heading into Christmas — and before a federal election next year — then Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and his lieutenants may just have succeeded.
Consider the upbeat reaction from News Corp’s Australian boss Michael Miller following the announcement of a new levy and offset scheme, which aims to close the loopholes that Meta walked through back in March when it said it wouldn't renew deals with publishers.
“I welcome the important work the Albanese Government has undertaken in designing the News Bargaining Incentive that recognises and strengthens the principle of commercial negotiations between tech platforms and Australian media companies,” Miller said in a statement.
He went on to say that he’d be contacting Meta “immediately” to revive talks over News Corp’s expired licensing deal — and make contact with Bytedance's TikTok over a possible agreement (again). Those two tech giants, along with Google, will be the first impacted under Labor's policy.
