Platforms without news deals now face a 2.5 per cent charge
This short law makes a new charge on big tech companies to help pay for news, and sets its rate. Platforms can cut the charge by paying Australian news outlets. Any money collected goes to newsrooms.
Official name: News Media Bargaining Charge Bill 2026
- This law sets up the news charge at a rate of 2.5 per cent.
- It applies to big social media and search companies that make over $250 million a year from Australian online ads.
- A partner law sets who pays. It also sets how deals with news outlets can cut the charge.
- The government expects $500 million in 2026 to 2027. All of it goes to newsrooms.
Who it affects
- Large social media and search companies: They face a charge of 2.5 per cent of the money they make from Australian online ads, unless they do enough news deals.
- Australian news outlets: They get money either from deals with platforms or from a payment scheme paid for by the charge.
- Taxpayers: The government says the charge is not meant to raise money for itself. It all goes to news.
Meta dropped its news deals
In 2021, Australia brought in the News Media Bargaining Code. It aimed to get big online platforms to pay news outlets for news. But a platform could avoid it by dropping news.
The Parliamentary Library helps all MPs and takes no side. It says Meta, which owns Facebook, chose not to renew its Australian news deals. Those deals were thought to be worth about $70 million a year.
On 12 December 2024, the government announced a new charge to close this gap. It applies to big social media and search services whether or not they carry news.
Five news laws together
This is one of five bills passed together in August 2026. This bill is short because the detailed rules sit in a partner bill.
This bill is the News Media Bargaining Charge Bill. It makes the charge and sets the rate.
The News Media Bargaining (Administration) Bill holds the detailed rules. This article calls it the rules bill. It says who must pay and how the amount is worked out. It also says how news deals can cut the charge.
A third bill changes tax laws so the tax office can collect the charge. The last two bills set up a payment scheme for news. It hands any money raised to Australian newsrooms.
The 2.5 per cent charge
The heart of this bill is one rule. It sets the charge at a rate of 2.5 per cent.
The 2.5 per cent is taken from an amount set by the rules bill. That amount is the money a company group makes from ads on its big social media or search services in Australia.
It uses figures from two years before. So the 2026 to 2027 charge uses money made in 2024 to 2025.
The draft version had a rate of 2.25 per cent on all the money a company made here. After asking people for comments, the government changed it. Now it only counts money from online ads, and the rate went up to 2.5 per cent.
Assistant Treasurer Daniel Mulino is a junior minister on the economy. He said this keeps the total amount for the media about the same.
Who pays it
Under the rules bill, the charge falls on the top company of a group of companies.
The group must run a social media service with at least 5 million Australian users a month. Or it must run a search engine with at least 10 million.
The group must also make more than $250 million a year from Australian online ads on those services.
Services mostly used for messages, games, health or learning are left out. So are AI chatbots that mainly run on large language models. These are computer programs that write answers after learning from huge amounts of text.
Say a social media company makes $2 billion a year from Australian ads. At 2.5 per cent, its charge would be $50 million.
Paying news outlets instead
A platform can cut the charge by spending money on news deals. The deals must be with at least eight separate Australian news groups.
Each dollar spent counts as $1.50. For deals with small and medium news businesses, each dollar counts as $2.
If its deals add up to enough, the charge falls to nothing. Mr Mulino said platforms have a clear choice. They can do fair deals or pay the charge.
Start date
The bill was put to the House of Representatives, the larger house of Parliament, on 13 August 2026. The House agreed to one change from the government and passed it on 19 August 2026.
The Senate, the second house of Parliament, passed it on 20 August 2026.
The Governor-General, the King's stand-in, signed it into law on 26 August 2026. It is Act number 78 of 2026.
It started at the same time as the rules law, the day after it was signed. The charge applies to the July 2025 to June 2026 year and later years.
How they voted
| Vote | Result |
|---|---|
| Vote to add a statement Senate, 20 August 2026 Labor 26 no, Greens 9 aye, One Nation 3 aye, Liberal 3 no, Independent 1 aye | Noes won 29 to 13 |
| Vote on a change Senate, 20 August 2026 Labor 25 no, Liberal 17 aye, Greens 9 no, One Nation 3 aye, Nationals 2 aye, LNP 1 aye, Independent 1 no | Noes won 35 to 23 |
| Vote on a change Senate, 20 August 2026 Labor 25 no, Greens 9 aye, Liberal 5 no, One Nation 3 no, Independent 1 aye, Nationals 1 no | Noes won 34 to 10 |
| Vote on a change Senate, 20 August 2026 Labor 26 aye, Greens 9 no, Liberal 4 aye, One Nation 3 aye, Independent 1 no | Ayes won 33 to 10 |
| Vote on a change Senate, 20 August 2026 Labor 26 no, Greens 9 aye, Liberal 4 no, One Nation 3 no, Independent 1 aye | Noes won 33 to 10 |
Its journey through Parliament
| 13 Aug 2026 | House of Representatives: Introduced and read a first time |
| 13 Aug 2026 | House of Representatives: Second reading moved |
| 18 Aug 2026 | House of Representatives: Second reading debate |
| 19 Aug 2026 | House of Representatives: Second reading agreed to |
| 19 Aug 2026 | House of Representatives: Consideration in detail debate Amendment details : 1 Government agreed to |
| 19 Aug 2026 | House of Representatives: Third reading agreed to |
| 20 Aug 2026 | Senate: Introduced and read a first time |
| 20 Aug 2026 | Senate: Second reading moved |
| 20 Aug 2026 | Senate: Second reading debate |
| 20 Aug 2026 | Senate: Second reading agreed to |
| 20 Aug 2026 | Senate: Third reading agreed to |
| 20 Aug 2026 | : Finally passed both Houses |
| 26 Aug 2026 | : Assent Act no : 78 Year : 2026 |