Meta Slams Australian Plan to Make Social Media Pay for News as 'Discriminatory Tax'

Tech giant Meta has hit out at the Australian government's plan to make social media companies pay for news, calling it a "grossly unfair" and "discriminatory tax".

In a blog post overnight, Meta shared its formal response to Labor's News Bargaining Incentive, which would see digital platforms taxed up to 2.25 per cent of their Australian revenue unless they strike deals to pay for local journalism.

"Our position is clear: this law is poorly designed, grossly unfair, and will fail to deliver a diverse and sustainable news industry," said Meta, the parent company of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp.

"We are vehemently opposed to this legislation.

Under the draft legislation, which specifically targets Meta, Google and TikTok, any tax raised would be distributed to local news organisations based on the number of journalists they employ.

Companies can reduce or even eliminate their tax bill by making deals with media organisations to pay for their use of news content.

Meta, Google and TikTok have been singled out based on a combination of their Australian revenues and large numbers of domestic users.

The exclusion of platforms like Microsoft, Snapchat and OpenAI has been criticised by the companies.

"It is a discriminatory tax, applied only to a handful of foreign companies," Meta said.

"Call it what it is: a discriminatory, retroactive tax targeting a handful of foreign companies while competitors offering comparable services face no equivalent obligation."

Google has also criticised the plan and says it ignores the fact the company already has commercial agreements with more than 90 news businesses and 226 outlets in Australia.

The proposed laws aim to close a loophole that allowed social media companies to strip news from their platforms.

In 2024, Meta refused to renew deals with news organisations initially made under the News Media Bargaining Code and removed news from its platforms to avoid paying for the content.

Meta had previously announced it would not renew content deals with news publishers in the United States, Britain, France and Germany.

Labor's new incentive proposal would apply to major platforms regardless of whether they hosted news.

Communications Minister Anika Wells has called the plan to make tech platforms pay for news "only fair", saying many Australians now use social media to access news.

"Platforms should do deals with news organisations. If they decide not to, they will end up paying more."

The bargaining incentive has been described by Australian media organisations as a "critical step" toward securing the future of Australian news.

"If digital platforms fail to pay for the use of the news content from which they profit, then journalism becomes unsustainable," said a statement released by a broad group of news organisations, including the ABC.

The draft laws will be introduced into parliament later this year.