The Taxman v Trump: ATO opens new front in fight with Big Tech

September 8, 2026 — 1:52pm

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Australia has been doing its best to irritate big tech of late.

The Albanese government’s new digital duty of care laws, introduced on Tuesday, are another attempt to force social media giants to make their algorithms safer. The News Bargaining Incentive, passed last month, whacked a 2.5 per cent levy on advertising revenue generated by those companies. Netflix faces a $1 billion fine if it fails to comply with local content quotas.

And while last year’s social media ban hasn’t kept kids off the internet, it helped embolden American lawmakers to take on Meta and extract a record $24 billion settlement from the company.

While all eyes were on Canberra for the government’s latest announcement, the Australian Taxation Office had quietly opened up a new front in the battle with big tech. In a seemingly arcane decision that came after five years of consultation, the ATO has ruled that revenue from cloud computing and streaming services would be treated as a royalty, and subject to a higher tax rate. In effect, tech giants like Amazon, Google and Netflix could be squeezed for billions in extra........

© WA Today