Australia plans to impose a tax of about 2% on tech giants unless they reach agreements to pay for local news.

The Australian government announced on Tuesday that companies like Meta and Google's parent company Alphabet could face fines of millions of Australian dollars if they do not negotiate payment agreements with local media organizations for the news content on their platforms. Under a proposed news bargaining code, tech giants that fail to reach agreements would be required to pay a 2.25% tax on their Australian revenue, with the funds being allocated to news organizations to support the development of the Australian news industry. Minister for Communications Paul Fletcher stated at a press conference, "More and more people are getting their news directly from platforms like Facebook and Google. We believe that the large digital platforms should contribute to enriching their information stream and generating revenue from news gathering efforts, which is only fair." He added, "Platforms should negotiate with news organizations. If they refuse to cooperate, they will ultimately pay higher taxes." President Donald Trump of the United States has consistently opposed the imposition of digital service taxes on American tech giants and has threatened to impose tariffs on countries implementing such taxes. Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese responded at the same press conference, saying, "Australia is a sovereign nation, and this government will make decisions based on national interests."