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Australia To Impose Tax On Tech Giants Over Revenue-Sharing With News Outlets
- Written by Kiara Fabbri Former Tech News Writer
- Fact-Checked by Justyn Newman Former Lead Cybersecurity Editor
On Thursday, the Australian government announced plans to impose a tax on major digital platforms and search engines unless they agree to share revenue with Australian news media, as reported by the AP .
In a Rush? Here are the Quick Facts!
- Australia plans to tax tech companies unless they share revenue with media.
- The tax targets companies earning over 250 million Australian dollars annually from Australia.
- Meta, Google, and ByteDance are included in the new revenue-sharing initiative.
This is part of Australia’s ongoing efforts to regulate big tech companies. Last week, lawmakers passed a new law that prohibits children under 16 from using social media .
The new tax, set to take effect on January 1, will target tech companies generating over 250 million Australian dollars ($160 million) annually from Australian operations, according to Assistant Treasurer Stephen Jones and Communications Minister Michelle Rowland, as reported by the AP.
This includes companies like Meta, Alphabet (Google’s parent company), and ByteDance, the Chinese owner of TikTok.
The tax will be offset by payments to Australian media outlets, though the exact tax amount remains unclear. The government intends to make revenue-sharing the more cost-effective option.
“The news bargaining initiative will … will create a financial incentive for agreement-making between digital platforms and news media businesses in Australia,” Jones said as reported by Reuters .
The AP notes that a previous government introduced the News Media Bargaining Code in 2021, which required tech giants to negotiate revenue-sharing agreements with Australian media companies or face fines of 10% of their Australian revenue.
CBC pointed out that in August 2023, Meta blocked news links in Canada to avoid paying fees to media companies.
Since then, Canada has become the focal point of Facebook’s conflict with governments that have enacted or are considering laws requiring internet giants to compensate media companies for linking to news published on their platforms.
In response to the Australian ban Meta said in a statement that the current law was flawed. “The proposal fails to account for the realities of how our platforms work, specifically that most people don’t come to our platforms for news content” Meta statement said, as reported by CBC.
“News publishers voluntarily choose to post content on our platforms because they receive value from doing so,” Meta statement added,
CBC notes that Google has struck revenue-sharing agreements with more than 80 Australian news companies in the past three years and has committed to renewing those deals. But Google has raised doubts about the government’s new approach.
“The government’s introduction of a targeted tax risks the ongoing viability of commercial deals with news publishers in Australia,” a Google statement said, as reported by CBC.
TikTok noted that its users didn’t seek news. “As an entertainment platform, TikTok has never been the go-to place for news. We will actively engage in the consultation process and look forward to hearing more details,” a TikTok statement said, as reported by CBC.
Rowland said the revenue-sharing was needed to safeguard Australian democracy. “The rapid growth of digital platforms in recent years has disrupted Australia’s media landscape and it is threatening the viability of public interest journalism,” Rowland commented, as reported by CBC.
Photo by Brian J. Tromp on Unsplash
Astro Bot Wins Game Of The Year At The Game Awards
- Written by Andrea Miliani Former Tech News Expert
The Game Awards, an annual event that honors achievements in the game industry and is known as the “Oscars of gaming”, announced yesterday the winners for the 2024 edition. Astro Bot won the Game of The Year award, competing against popular interactive experiences like Black Myth: Wukong , Balatro , and Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree.
In a Rush? Here are the Quick Facts!
- Astro Bo t won the Game of the Year, Best Family Game, Best Direction, and Best Action/Adventure awards
- Other video games like B lack Myth: Wukong, Balatro, Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth , and Helldivers 2 also earned recognition
- The Game Awards took place in Los Angeles and celebrities like Snoop Dog, Ella Purnell, and Harrison Ford attended the event
Astro Bot , developed by Team Asobi and Playstation, also won Best Family Game, Best Direction, and Best Action/Adventure.
And the Game of the Year Award for 2024 goes to ASTRO BOT! Congrats to everyone at @PlayStation and @TeamAsobi ! #TheGameAwards pic.twitter.com/7CG8McZPbg — The Game Awards (@thegameawards) December 13, 2024
The game is a sequel to Astro’s Playroom launched in 2020 and players get to control the small robot Astro Bot and face challenges navigating different planets to rescue their crew after their ship was attacked. It also features other Playstation characters, an appealing experience for the console fans.
The Game Awards offered prizes to several video games in multiple categories. Helldivers 2 , a game Sony attempted to limit access to only PlayStation Network (PSN) and reversed the action after hundreds of thousands of users across the world complained, won as Best Ongoing Game.
Other video games also stood out with multiple awards. The card game Balatro developed by LocalThunk earned the Best Mobile Game Award, Best Independent Game, and Debut Indie Game awards. Metaphor: ReFantazio the Best Art Direction, Best Narrative, and Best Role-Playing prizes.
Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth also got special recognition as it was among nominees for almost all categories, and won Best Score & Music.
The event, now in its 10th year, took place in Los Angeles at Peacock Theater—it was also livestreamed—and counted with the participation of celebrities like Snoop Dog, Troy Baker, Harrison Ford, Ella Purnell, and also the band Twenty One Pilots.
