NetChoice has repeatedly sounded the alarm over foreign threats to a free and open internet emanating from the other side of the Atlantic Ocean. Unfortunately, enormous threats also sit on the other side of the Pacific. The Chinese Communist Party is the obvious threat, but Americans would be stunned by the antics of Australia. What’s going on down under is a case study in what happens even in advanced, nominally “liberal” societies without an equivalent to the First Amendment and a strong culture of free speech around it.
Australia has sought to regulate speech in a manner that would be untouchable under the First Amendment, not just within its shores, but on a global scale. Last December, Australia went so far as to ban access to common online services such as YouTube, X, Reddit, Facebook and Instagram for people under 16 years old, thereby requiring users of all ages to submit additional, sensitive information to services to verify their age.
Australia’s walkabout away from online freedom continued last week with a new tax targeting Meta, Google and TikTok. These firms will be hit with a 2.25 percent tax on their Australian revenues unless they strike deals with news media companies to pay for journalism. Of course, even if they strike those deals, the tax doesn’t go away but merely drops to 1.5 percent.
This would not be the first time Australia has tried to tax one kind of media to pay for another. Back in 2021, Australia passed the News Media and Digital Platforms Mandatory Bargaining Code. Under this law, Australian news media companies would apply to the Australian government to be deemed eligible. The government would weigh if a publisher was large enough and produced “core news,” certifying the company as eligible for direct financial assistance and other privileges against online platforms. The law essentially coerced Meta and Google into striking deals with large Australian news media companies to subsidize them.
The entire situation is antithetical to the First Amendment.
It’s hard to conceive of a greater affront to freedom of the press to force one form of media to subsidize government-approved companies in another. Now, Australia is going even further by formally taxing online services regardless of whether they host or support news media. In the name of bolstering journalism, the government is effectively converting all of Australia’s largest media companies into state-funded enterprises.
Journalism undoubtedly serves a critical role in any free society. But despite the intentions of the Australian government, their efforts will ultimately weaken the press in significant ways. First, the Australian government and news publishers effectively ignore the expansive distribution and its benefits provided by online services. This provides the clicks and eyeballs that any online media covets. In doing so, it has driven Meta to scale back its news features, meaning lower visibility and consumption of news media. Additionally, government subsidization stifles incentives for news publishers across their business, from diversifying potential revenue streams to a lack of responsiveness to subscriber interests. This is all on top of the obvious issue of the government holding the purse strings of the institutions that are supposed to hold them accountable.
Ultimately, Australia’s aggressive regulatory overreach serves as a stark warning to the rest of the free world. When a government dictates who is allowed to participate online, arbitrarily redistributes wealth between competing media sectors, and turns the independent press into state-reliant entities, the fundamental principles of a free and open internet are dismantled. While these mandates are packaged as well-intentioned efforts to protect minors or save local journalism, their true legacy will be a fractured digital landscape, a compromised Fourth Estate, and diminished online freedom for citizens.
For Americans, the situation down under underscores exactly why our First Amendment, and the cultural reverence for free enterprise and free speech that underpins it, is so indispensable. We must remain vigilant against these misguided frameworks, ensuring that the heavy hand of government censorship and coercion does not cross any ocean to take root on our shores.
Image via Unsplash.