00:02Hi there, Jo. The Prime Minister says that the new news media incentive is moving to
00:08the next stage and it's set to better compensate news organisations for the content that they
00:13put on social media platforms. Now, these initial laws were introduced by the Coalition
00:18in 2021, pushing platforms to pay news organisations for their news content, but they were immediately
00:26controversial. Facebook initially removed all of the news content from its site. They later
00:33backpedalled and ended up signing deals worth millions of dollars with various news companies,
00:39but then the parent company Meta decided it wouldn't be renewing those deals. And so the
00:46government's response today is aimed at facilitating those commercial deals, putting these social
00:52media platforms between a bit of a rock and a hard place in making sure that they sign
00:56them. So they're introducing an incentive tax on three platforms so far, Meta, Google and
01:02TikTok. The government says that if these platforms don't sign commercial deals with news organisations,
01:09they'll need to pay a levy worth 2.25% of their Australian revenue. And then any of that money
01:16collected by the government will be redistributed back into the news sector. Essentially, the government
01:23is trying to make doing a deal a more attractive and economical option than paying the tax. The government
01:31says that with more Australians consuming news online, it's only fair that platforms help pay and contribute
01:38to the journalism that is keeping their platforms engaging and also raising them a lot of revenue. Here's what he
01:45had to say.
01:47We think that investment in journalism is critical to a healthy democracy. It matters. It's something
01:55that defines the way that Australian society operates. And frankly, if the work has been done by
02:04the people here at this press conference and in other places right around Australia, then your work needs
02:11to have a monetary value attached to it. It shouldn't just be able to be taken by a large multinational
02:21corporation and used to generate profits for that organisation with no compensation.
02:30Already been slammed by some of those platforms that will be impacted. Meta deny that they take news
02:36content. They say news organisations post on their platforms because they also benefit from it as well,
02:42increases readership, it helps drive engagement. As we know, there are more and more people consuming
02:48their news online. And so news platforms do go towards those platforms to distribute their news.
02:55Google as well, who have plenty of commercial agreements in place with more than 200 news outlets,
03:01and they've been praised for doing so, have also rejected the need for the tax. They say it ignores
03:06the fact that Google do have these existing arrangements in place. And they also have criticized
03:11the fact that it's mandating payment from these three specific platforms and other platforms like
03:18Microsoft and Snapchat are being left off the hook. But the government says none of this announcement
03:24today should come as a surprise. They say they've consulted with those platforms extensively. And now the
03:30draft legislation is open for broader stakeholder consultation until the 18th of May.
Comments