Australia has passed legislation requiring major technology platforms to either strike commercial agreements with news publishers or face a levy on advertising revenue, renewing attention on similar demands by Nigerian media organizations.
The Australian News Bargaining Incentive imposes a levy equal to 2.5 per cent of advertising revenue on covered digital companies that fail to reach qualifying deals with local news businesses.
The framework applies to major technology companies operating significant social media or search services in Australia and earning more than A$250 million in local advertising revenue.
Companies identified under the policy include Meta, Alphabet, TikTok and Microsoft’s LinkedIn.
Platforms can reduce or avoid the levy by reaching commercial agreements with at least eight news publishers before the end of their reporting period.
Eligible agreements must support the production of journalism or compensate publishers for news content made available online through the platforms.
The Australian system gives larger offsets for spending with small and medium sized publishers in an effort to direct more support toward smaller newsrooms.
The legislation comes as Nigerian publishers continue pressing for a mechanism that would enable media organizations to negotiate compensation with global technology companies.
Nigerian media owners argue that publishers bear the cost of reporting, investigations, editing and technology while digital platforms capture significant advertising value from the distribution and discovery of journalism.
The issue has become more urgent as traditional advertising revenue has declined and global technology companies have taken a larger share of the digital advertising market.
President Bola Tinubu has directed the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission to examine complaints involving major technology companies and the use of Nigerian media content.
Australian authorities said their new framework was intended to create a stronger commercial relationship between digital platforms and news organizations.
For Nigerian publishers, the Australian model is likely to strengthen arguments that governments can create mechanisms requiring technology companies to share more of the commercial value generated around journalism.
Any Nigerian framework would, however, require its own regulatory process, legal structure and negotiations with the affected platforms.
