Australia’s News Bargaining Incentive (NBI) is a proposed levy-based framework announced on 28 April 2026 to require large digital platforms to pay for news content used in Australia. The draft plan is intended to replace the News Media Bargaining Code (NMBC), which was introduced earlier to regulate commercial relations between digital platforms and news publishers.
Core Design of the NBI
The proposed NBI applies to major digital platforms such as Meta, Google and TikTok. These platforms would face a 2.25% levy on their Australian revenues if they do not conclude commercial agreements with local news publishers. The levy operates as a financial incentive because platforms can receive full or partial offsets if they sign commercial deals with Australian news organisations. Pure AI chatbot services are excluded from the scope of the legislation.
Revenue and Distribution
The Australian government estimates annual collections of A$200 million to A$250 million under the proposed system. The funds are to be redistributed to news outlets on the basis of the number of full-time journalists they employ. The mechanism includes a cap on the benefit that platforms can obtain from agreements with a single publisher. This rule is designed to spread funding across smaller and medium-sized publishers in the Australian media market.
Legislative Timeline
The draft legislation was announced by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Communications Minister Anika Wells on 28 April 2026. Public consultation on the draft legislation is open until 18 May 2026. The NBI is intended to apply from the 2025-26 financial year, which begins on 1 July 2026. The earlier NMBC allowed platforms to avoid obligations by removing news from their services, and Meta removed news from its services in March 2024.
Last Modified: April 29, 2026