We should applaud the release of the Australian government’s exposure draft legislation for the news bargaining incentive (NBI). The government is acting to ensure that media companies get rewarded when their content is used by search and social media companies. Without intervention companies like Google and Meta profit from using news content without paying for it.

We should also applaud that the government is seeking to use world-first approaches to ensure payment. Search and social media companies will be subject to the regime whether or not they display media stories.

The original news media bargaining code (NMBC), which the NBI replaces, was also world leading and extremely successful. Three- and five-year deals were entered into by Google and Meta with virtually all publishers, large and small, and around $1bn has been paid since its inception.

But the three-year deals have expired, and Meta has said it will not do further deals, and the remaining deals expire by mid-2026. The NMBC only applies to platforms that carry news, and Meta has apparently said it........

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