Trump tariffs threaten Australian news bargaining agreements
Plans to force tech giants to pay Australian news outlets for their content have been put into jeopardy, after President Donald Trump ushered in “reciprocal tariffs” for taxes placed on US goods.
The Albanese government has reportedly stalled plans to begin publicly designing its news bargaining incentive, with the Sydney Morning Herald reporting that “two Australian officials” confirmed the delay is due to fears of inciting payback tariffs.
The news bargaining incentive was set to back up the News Media Bargaining Code by forcing digital platforms to strike commercial deals with Australian news publishers or pay a levy.
I was just thinking the other day how media mentions of the News Bargaining Code have dropped off a cliff since the election result.
Makes sense, with Sundar Pichai and Mark Zuckerberg sitting prominently in President Trump and Elon Musk’s inner circle of oligarchs and making sweeping changes to their DEI and fact checking policies, even bowing to insane requests like changing the name of the Gulf of Mexico their platforms. With this in mind, the Australian government probably isn’t going to risk drawing attention to themselves by following through.
Also factor in that it’s an election year. Dutton can’t press the issue, because his party introduced the code at the request of their mates Murdoch and Stokes and Albanese won’t push it because he’s trying to smooth out our trade relations, now that the US is throwing it’s weight around like a clumsy bully.
I’d say the the code is effectively dead and buried for the time being. Sorry Rupert…
Can someone please explain how they have managed NOT to pay tax in our country, including News corp?
No one seems to care. Except for the everyday PAYE taxpayer , the entire tax system appears is wracked by corruption and self-interest,