Of course they do. 
In other news, water is wet.
Independent publishers say News Bargain Incentive ‘does not address the underlying issues’
The Local and Independent News Association (LINA) is among those raising concerns about the draft legislation for the News Bargaining Incentive, with the industry association stating it doesn’t fix the problems with the original media bargaining code.
Scott Purcell, CFA at independent publication Man Of Many, took to Linkedin to point out the “fatal structural flaw that will quietly hand the entire economic value of the scheme to the exact same legacy media conglomerates as under the news media bargaining code”.
Purcell also rallied against the bill exempting language learning models, which he writes “regulates 2021’s search engines while giving 2026’s AI platforms a free pass to scrape and extract value from independent content with zero compensation”.
Australia waits on retaliation from the US over the News Bargaining Incentive
Australia’s draft News Bargaining Incentive (NBI) has drawn criticism from the US where the tax on digital platforms is seen as treating American companies unfairly.
President Trump is expected to sign a memorandum directing the Office of the US Trade Representative to propose retaliatory measures, including tariffs, against countries that impose digital taxes on US companies.
The Computer and Communications Industry Association (CCIA), an American trade group representing major US firms including Meta, Google, Apple, Amazon, Uber and Pinterest, issued a formal statement of opposition to the Australian legislation.
CCIA president and CEO Matt Schruers said the legislation violated the Australia-United States Free Trade Agreement.
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As does a lot of the shit your president has done to us Mr Schruers.
Featured on Media Watch on ABC TV tonight.
UPDATE
News Bargaining Incentive will repeat it’s original ‘failures’
Independent digital publisher Man of Many has called on the federal government to amend the News Bargaining Incentive, warning it will repeat the failures of its predecessor.
The publisher has lodged two submissions to the federal government, one to the Treasury on the Charge and Administration Bills and one to the Department of Infrastructure on the proposed distribution framework.
In its two submissions, the publisher identified five material gaps in the exposure draft legislation and proposed structural amendments to ensure funding reached Australian journalism.
Man of Many called the “zero deals” scenario a central concern, urging the government to consider the risk that platforms may refuse to negotiate, instead solely paying the NBI levy.
Meta argues the NBI will leave Australian journalism dependent on its revenue
Meta has doubled down on its opposition to the News Bargaining Incentive, releasing additional statements calling the legislation a discriminatory tax.
The company said the government’s case rests on the false principle that digital platforms extract value from news publishers without fair return.
“Our position is clear: this law is poorly designed, grossly unfair, and will fail to deliver a diverse and sustainable news industry,” the statement read.
“This is not a plan to save journalism. It is a tax on innovation dressed up as media policy.”
It is a tax because we are yet to appropriately apply real taxation on multi-national businesses including Netflix and Meta that take money out of their local arms through pre-tax service transfers to low/non-tax jurisdictions. They can shut down local operations if our market is so undesirable.
Government delays News Bargaining Incentive until after winter recess
A government spokesperson confirmed the delay to The Australian on Sunday, while saying “the government is strongly committed to the News Bargaining Incentive and public interest journalism.”
Media executives have warned the delay risks further weakening the sector, arguing urgent intervention is needed to secure funding from digital platforms and sustain journalism, with industry leaders cautioning the long-term viability of public interest news is at stake.
And how much of this is actually going to go towards maintaining journalism, especially in regional areas where we see certain companies gut and slash numbers in their news rooms? How much of this is going towards shareholder dividends and executive bonuses.
As much as big tech should be paying their fair share where possible, do certain media companies deserve these payments? Bring back public hearings and license renewal processes where they have to demonstrate to the public where these payments are going and how they’re going to serve the public interest. Otherwise, they can die in a fire.
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