Much Ado About No News: Australia’s Latest Plan to Make Platforms Pay
Australia’s latest plan to make digital platforms pay for journalism has an unusual feature. A platform can owe money even if it carries no journalism at all. The government calls this an “incentive.”
On Aug. 3, the Australian government finalized legislation establishing the News Bargaining Incentive (NBI). The government first proposed the NBI in December 2024, then put it on hold after calling a general election a few weeks later.
The NBI seeks to encourage digital platforms to enter into commercial agreements supporting Australian journalism. Large platforms that decline to enter into or renew qualifying agreements must pay a charge based on advertising revenue attributable to the Australian market. Platforms with qualifying agreements may reduce their liability through a nonrefundable offset.
The NBI’s unusual reach is deliberate. It applies to large platforms that provide significant social-media or search services, regardless of whether they carry news content. According to the government, this approach closes a major gap in Australia’s existing bargaining code, which allows platforms to avoid payment obligations by removing news.
The government has openly expressed frustration that the code has failed to secure the desired transfer of revenue from large platforms to news publishers, despite its mandatory bargaining process and binding final-offer arbitration. The NBI responds by compelling payment even when a platform makes no use of news content.
This latest change to Australia’s legal framework warrants attention for two main reasons.