Meta lashes Labor’s news incentive in fiery blog post

Meta has launched a scorching attack on the Albanese government’s plan to force the world’s largest technology companies to fund Australian journalism, branding the proposed regime a “discriminatory tax built on a false premise” that will leave the media industry hooked on government handouts.

In a formal submission and accompanying blog post published overnight, the company that owns Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Quest virtual reality headsets said it was “vehemently opposed” to the News Bargaining Incentive, the scheme designed to compel Meta, Google and TikTok into striking commercial deals with news publishers.

“Our position is clear: this law is poorly designed, grossly unfair, and will fail to deliver a diverse and sustainable news industry,” the company wrote. “Call it what it is: a discriminatory, retroactive tax targeting a handful of foreign companies while competitors offering comparable services face no equivalent obligation.”

The incentive, championed by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, would apply a 2.25 per cent charge on the total Australian revenue of the three platforms, with the proceeds flowing to businesses that employ journalists. Companies can offset the charge by signing tax-deductible deals worth about 1.5 per cent of revenue . Treasury estimates the policy will deliver between $200 million and $250 million a year to local media, and the government wants it legislated this winter.

Meta’s central objection is the breadth of the levy, which captures “consolidated revenue attributed to Australia”. That definition sweeps up sales of its Quest devices and other products that the company says have nothing to do with news. The case for extracting money from social media, where publishers voluntarily post their content, was not supported by the evidence, the company argued, and extending that logic to virtual reality headsets and smart glasses was “indefensible”.

Asked at the announcement of the incentive about repercussions from the US administration, Albanese said: “We’re a sovereign nation and my government will make decisions based upon the Australian national interest”.

It’s a familiar fight: Meta walked away from its deals under the original 2021 News Media Bargaining Code in March 2024, arguing news held little commercial value for Facebook. The incentive was explicitly engineered to close the loophole that allowed it to do so, with the charge now applying regardless of whether a platform carries news at all.

When Canada passed similar laws in August 2023, Facebook decided to block news entirely rather than comply. The