Australia’s Parliament has passed the News Bargaining Incentive, a levy mechanism that presses major digital platforms to strike commercial deals with local news organizations or face a charge equal to 2.5% of their Australian advertising revenue. Eligible platforms, including Meta, Alphabet’s Google, TikTok and Microsoft’s LinkedIn, plus operators of significant social or search services with more than A$250 million in domestic ad revenue, can reduce liability by completing agreements with at least eight Australian news businesses before their financial reporting period ends. Proceeds will be distributed to the media industry through the News Journalism Payments scheme. The law closes a loophole in the 2021 News Media Bargaining Code that allowed platforms to sidestep obligations by removing news from their services. Offsets favor deals with smaller publishers, and Communications Minister Anika Wells said the measures support journalism as essential to democracy, including small and regional outlets.