It would appear that Australia is leading the charge aginst making social media companies accountable from making it illegal to access social networks for those under 16 to now formalising law to ensure tech social media companies pay fees to media companies for publishing news!
Australia's government says it will create new rules to force big tech companies to pay local publishers for news. The long-awaited decision sets out a successor to a world-first law that Australia passed in 2021, which was designed to make giants like Meta and Google pay for hosting news on their platforms.
Australia wants the companies to compensate publishers for their news links and pass on some of their advertising revenue to Australian media outlets.
The tax would apply from January 1 to tech companies that earn more than 250 million Australian dollars ($160 million, €152 million) a year in revenue from Australia, Assistant Treasurer Stephen Jones and Communications Minister Michelle Rowland said.
The new rules will shore up traditional media companies waging a battle for survival as their content is made freely available on platforms, wiping out precious advertising dollars. Amid the ongoing crisis, hundreds of Australian journalists have lost their jobs.
The Australian government indicated the parent companies of Google, Facebook and TikTok would be targeted by the tax, which will be waived if they voluntarily enter into commercial agreements with Australian media companies.
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