LinkedIn dragged into news bargaining incentive legislation, despite lobbying from Microsoft

The government has released new details of its news bargaining incentive legislation, with LinkedIn no longer exempt from the agreement – which will force platforms to pay for news content.

The platforms – Google, Meta, TikTok and now LinkedIn – will have to make deals with at least six media organisations (an increase from four under the draft legislation) or pay 2.5% of their digital revenue made in Australia.

The government has announced the changes after consultations with industry.

The charge rate for companies that don’t sign deals has increased, from 2.25% to 2.5% of their digital advertising revenue. The government has changed the rules from the platforms having to pay a percentage of their total revenue made in Australia to just digital advertising revenue.

It means revenue from the phones Google sells, for example, will be exempt from the news bargaining incentive payments – since that doesn’t count as digital revenue.

Guardian Australia revealed last month that Microsoft had lobbied the government in March 2025 to keep LinkedIn and Bing exempt from the new rules. Bing still won’t be liable to pay the incentive, because its digital advertising revenue in Australia is under the $250m threshold.

In a statement, the minister for financial services, Daniel Mulino said the changes “do not alter the intent of the legislation and remain true to the policy rationale”.

We want digital platforms to do deals with a diverse range of media organisations and have shown good faith with both the platforms and media companies during the consultation process.