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Australia Passes Law to Charge Tech Giants That Fail to Pay for Local News

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Australia has passed new legislation that will require major technology companies to pay a 2.5% levy on local advertising revenue if they fail to reach commercial agreements with Australian news publishers.

The News Bargaining Incentive applies to companies including Meta, Google, TikTok and Microsoft’s LinkedIn if they operate significant social media or search services in Australia and generate more than A$250 million ($178 million) in local advertising revenue.

Platforms can avoid the levy by signing qualifying agreements with at least eight publishers before the end of their financial reporting period. Payments to news organizations will be credited against the levy, with stronger incentives for deals involving smaller and medium-sized publishers.

Spending with large publishers will receive a 150% offset, while agreements with smaller outlets will receive a 200% offset. The rules are designed to encourage technology platforms to financially support journalism while still allowing companies to negotiate commercial arrangements directly.

Revenue collected through the levy will be directed toward Australian news organizations, reflecting the government’s view that media content contributes significantly to engagement and advertising revenue on major digital platforms.

The legislation strengthens Australia’s broader effort to rebalance the relationship between technology companies and traditional media businesses as news publishers struggle with declining advertising income and increased competition from digital platforms.

Australia Orders AI Chatbot Firms to Reveal Child Protection Measures

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Australia’s internet regulator has ordered four AI chatbot companies to disclose what steps they are taking to protect children from harmful and sexual content, in the country’s latest move to tighten oversight of artificial intelligence.

The eSafety Commissioner said it sent legal notices to Character Technologies — the creator of the celebrity chatbot platform Character.ai — along with Glimpse.AI, Chai Research, and Chub AI, demanding detailed reports on how they prevent child sexual exploitation, exposure to pornography, and content promoting suicide or eating disorders.

“There can be a darker side to some of these services,” said Commissioner Julie Inman Grant, warning that many chatbots can engage in sexually explicit conversations with minors and even encourage self-harm or disordered eating.

Under Australia’s Online Safety Act, the regulator can compel companies to disclose their internal safety protocols or face fines of up to A$825,000 ($536,000) per day.

The crackdown follows growing concern about AI companions forming emotional or sexual bonds with teenagers. Some Australian schools have reported students as young as 13 spending more than five hours daily interacting with chatbots, sometimes in explicit exchanges.

The most prominent firm targeted, Character.ai, faces a lawsuit in the U.S. after a mother alleged her 14-year-old son died by suicide following interactions with an AI companion. The company has denied wrongdoing, saying it added pop-up safety warnings and links to suicide prevention hotlines for users expressing self-harm thoughts.

The eSafety office said it did not include OpenAI in this round of inquiries, as ChatGPT is covered under a separate industry code that takes effect in March 2026.

Australia, already known for its strict digital regulation, will introduce new rules in December requiring social media firms to block or deactivate accounts of users under 16 or risk penalties of up to A$49.5 million.

The move positions Australia at the forefront of AI child safety regulation, as governments worldwide race to address the unintended dangers of increasingly lifelike AI companions.

Qantas Confirms Customer Data Released by Hackers Months After Cyber Breach

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Australia’s national airline, Qantas Airways, has confirmed that customer data stolen during a July cyberattack has now been released online by cybercriminals. The airline said it was one of several companies targeted globally in the breach, which compromised the personal information of millions of passengers.

In the July incident, Qantas revealed that over one million customers had sensitive data — including phone numbers, dates of birth, and home addresses — accessed by hackers. An additional four million customers had their names and email addresses stolen, marking one of the largest data breaches in Australia’s recent history.

Qantas said the data was stolen through a third-party platform and has since been published by the hacker group known as Scattered Lapsus$ Hunters after the company missed a ransom deadline. “With the help of specialist cybersecurity experts, we are investigating what data was part of the release,” Qantas said in a statement.

The airline also confirmed that an injunction remains in place to prevent the use or further distribution of the stolen information. The July attack is among the most serious since cyber incidents targeting telecom firm Optus and health insurer Medibank in 2022, which led to tighter cybersecurity laws in Australia.