News companies have shed hundreds of jobs since Meta refused to continue paying them, and the opposition says yesterday’s announcement of a new tax on the social giants could have been made months ago — before those jobs were lost.
On Thursday, the federal government said it would introduce a tax on social media companies that could be used to fund Australian news media — with an “offset” for the social giants to pay less or zero if they negotiate deals directly with news companies instead.
The tax is a reaction to the owner of Facebook and Instagram, Meta, deciding in March to stop complying with laws that require social media companies to pay for hosting news content on their platforms.
But Shadow Communications Minister David Coleman said in the months since Meta’s snub of the code, the government had allowed job losses in the media sector through its delays, because it had not considered the issue a priority.
“The delay is completely inexcusable. It’s not the Manhattan Project: this could have been done months and months ago,” Mr Coleman told the ABC.
“It’s the typical meandering, indecisive approach that we see from the Albanese government, and it has a very real consequence, because we have seen the loss of hundreds and hundreds of jobs in Australian journalism.”
Since Meta “thumbed its nose” at the code in March, Seven West, Nine Entertainment, News Corp and regional newspaper conglomerate Australian Community Media have all announced job losses that they linked to the loss of revenue from Meta.
It also opened a funding hole at the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) for 60 regional jobs that were paid for using Meta’s money.
David Coleman said news companies had already lost journalists in the months since Meta’s decision. (AAP: Mick Tsikas)
When Meta pulled out, a furious federal government said it was considering all its options to bring the company back to the bargaining table.
Mr Coleman said when Meta fronted a parliamentary inquiry in September, however, it revealed the only meeting on the issue had been between Assistant Treasurer Stephen Jones and a regional affairs manager.
“Under our government, [former treasurer] Josh Frydenberg went toe-to-toe with Mark Zuckerberg. Under the Albanese government, Stephen Jones went toe-to-toe with a regional regulatory affairs manager, and that was it.
“The government explicitly said that all ministers from the prime minister down would be involved in engaging with Meta, and parliamentary testimony showed that was not true, that did not happen.”
Former treasurer Josh Frydenberg negotiated directly with Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg to land the News Media Bargaining Code. (AP: Alex Brandon)
Social media companies issued brief statements on Thursday, with Meta saying the government did not understand how its platforms worked, and that most users did not come to Facebook and Instagram for news.
TikTok also rejected that they had ever been “the go-to place for news”.
Twenty per cent of Australians said social media was their main source of news, according to research last year by the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA).
Further consultation to push out start date
Assistant Treasurer Stephen Jones on Thursday said the government hoped its new tax on the social giants would not raise any revenue because they would all be incentivised to strike deals with news publishers to avoid being levied.
But Mr Jones did not detail how the government would distribute revenue to media outlets if that tax was levied on a social media company, including who might be the beneficiaries and on what conditions funding would be paid out.
Asked how paying media outlets using that tax revenue might work, Mr Jones said it would be distributed “on the same principles that lie behind [the News Media Bargaining Code]”.
“That is to ensure that there is a sustainable basis for funding journalism. So a fund will be established.”
Mr Jones said his colleague, Communications Minister Michelle Rowland, would be “out in the very near future” with further details.
Alongside developing that fund, the government will also have to design the scheme that allows tech giants to offset their tax liabilities by striking deals with news publishers — with the government saying it does not want those companies to do so by simply cutting large deals with one or two media outlets.
The government says it will begin public consultations early next year, shortly before the federal government must go to an election.