Social media inquiry recommends ‘digital platform levy’ after Facebook walks away from news media agreement

The Government should consider a “levy” on social media giants like Meta after the company walked away from a multibillion deal to compensate Australian news organisations for their content, a parliamentary committee has recommended.

The tech giant’s decision to end the agreement in April — initiated under the former Morrison government’s News Media Bargaining Code — also saw Meta announce it was removing the Facebook News tab in Australia and the US.

The company cited declining interest in news content on its platform.

The Labor-led committee this week recommended the Government “explore alternative revenue mechanisms” such as a “digital platform levy”, and establish “a short-term transition fund” to help media companies survive.

The tax on big tech could be used to compensate publishers who face losing millions in revenue after Meta ended its agreements.

The interim report also recommended exploring if it was possible to force social media platforms to carry news content and setting up a Digital Affairs Ministry to regulate platforms.

Social media giants could also face European-style transparency requirements, which could require them to provide the Government access to its data and how their algorithms work.

The report found the Code was now “broken,” but should remain in force “for now” as a mechanism for distributing levy funds to media publishers.

Coalition MPs on the committee have rejected the bombshell recommendations, saying the Government was seeking to blame the Code for its own “failings and inaction” in enforcing the agreement.

“The Albanese Government has failed to take any firm action to resolve the dispute with Meta under the News Media Bargaining Code,” the four Opposition MPs wrote in their dissent.

The Coalition members “strongly” rejected the committee’s presumption the Code was “now no longer fit for purpose”.

“(The Government) has failed to take action available to it under the powers set out in the Code and has instead attempted to cite referral of the issue to this committee as some form of action,” they wrote.

“In reality, the Government has simply used this referral to obfuscate and delay.”

The committee, which has endorsed the Government’s controversial efforts to regulate online misinformation, is set to hand down a final report that will examine online safety.

The Opposition has staunchly opposed the Government’s efforts to push through a Misinformation Bill, with Coalition MPs on the committee warning it would “silence some voices, and not others.”

Meta accused the committee of ignoring “the realities of how our platforms work, the preferences of the people who use them, and the value we provide news publishers who choose to post their content on our platforms” in a statement to The Guardian.