Australian lawmakers are considering a new scheme to regulate and to extract revenue from American technology. If enacted, it would impose a 2.25% levy on the Australian revenues of three major platforms unless they strike commercial deals with local news publishers, with the rate falling to as low as 1.5% if enough agreements are reached.

The government projects the policy will generate $144 million to $179 million. It follows the 2021 enactment of the “news media bargaining code,” which sought to compel such agreements. Australian authorities now say the measure’s results have proven unsatisfactory to the nation’s politicos. Meta, for one, barred news links from Facebook two years ago in protest.