The Australian government should consider imposing a “digital platform levy” – a tax on tech companies like Meta and Google – as well as establishing a fund to help traditional news media organisations “strengthen alternative income streams”, a parliamentary committee has recommended.
The government-controlled joint select committee on social media and Australian society has released its second interim report, focused on Meta’s decision to abandon its deals with Australian news organisations under the news media bargaining code.
A final report from the committee will focus on online safety, the influence of algorithms on social media feeds, the effects of social media on the mental health of users and age verification technology.
The two key recommendations of the report tabled Monday evening are designed to deal with the decision by Meta – owner of Facebook – to abandon the deals it signed three years ago to pay media companies for news.
The recommendations from the Labor-controlled committee – chaired by Newcastle MP Sharon Claydon – do not represent official government policy and the responsible ministers have not immediately commented on the report. But the recommendations offer potential insight into the government’s thinking on ensuring media sustainability and addressing the influence of the social media companies.
In 2021, Google and Meta signed deals with Australian media companies to pay for news after the then Coalition government set up the news media bargaining code. The code contained powers to “designate” social media companies – forcing them into deals with traditional media companies or face fines of 10% of their Australian revenue.
But in March Meta announced it would not renew its funding deals and the Albanese government has since speculated on a levy as a way to extract revenue – for Australian media companies – without a potentially protracted designation battle.
“We think that social media companies have a social obligation as well,” the prime minister said in August.
“That they shouldn’t be able to, essentially, harvest the work of news organisations that pay their journalists to do work, that should be valued. That is important.”
The Labor-dominated parliamentary committee report said, given the exposed limitations of the bargaining code, the government should “explore alternative revenue mechanisms to supplement the code … such as a digital platform levy”.
The committee heard evidence Australia could introduce a “digital services tax”, like the 2% tax introduced in the UK and in France, or a Public Interest Journalism Levy to which social media companies would be compelled to contribute.
The committee said the government’s exploration of a levy on social media companies “should include consideration for preserving current and future commercial deals to sustain public interest journalism over the longer term, and to support digital media literacy initiatives”.
The second major recommendation was for a fund to support media companies struggling to sustain public interest journalism in the face of collapsing advertising revenues.
“Given Meta’s decision not to renew deals under the news media bargaining code, and the de-prioritisation of news on Meta platforms, the committee recommends that the Australian government establish a short-term transition fund to help news media businesses to diversify and strengthen alternative income streams and news product offerings.
“The fund should have a particular focus on supporting small, independent and digital only publishers, as well as those operating in under-served communities and rural, regional and remote areas.”
Committee chair Sharon Claydon said Australians were concerned about the impact of social media on communities, including on access to accurate and reliable news.
“This report highlights the urgent need for robust regulatory frameworks to protect Australians from the harmful effects of social media,” she said.
Deputy committee chair, Senator Sarah Hanson-Young, the Greens communications spokesperson, said firms such as Meta operate in Australia and benefit from Australian communities, “yet will stop at nothing to ensure they do not have to adhere to Australian laws or give anything back to those they profit off”.
She said the actions of transnational tech companies – in spite of their economic power – must be reined in by strong government regulation.
“The potential for Meta to remove news from their platforms will create a void for mis- and dis-information, while in turn their refusal to pay for the news it carries will impact Australian jobs and the quality of public interest journalism in Australia. Tech platforms must be held responsible for creating the very spaces that drive division, abuse and conspiracy theories.”
Four Coalition members of committee rejected the report’s assertion the news media bargaining code was not fit for purpose, instead accusing the Albanese government of capitulation in its dealings with the tech companies.
“The news media bargaining code was designed to give government powerful tools to hold social media companies to account for the commercial benefits they gain from use of Australian news content,” the opposition members said.
“The Albanese government has been weak in its handling of this issue.”
