News Media Bargaining Charge Bill 2026

Summary

This legislation creates a mechanism for news media companies to negotiate payment from digital platforms (like Google and Facebook) when those platforms use news content. The laws it amends or creates establish a bargaining process where news publishers can collectively negotiate fees, with an arbitrator stepping in if the parties cannot reach agreement. This matters because news organisations have lost significant advertising revenue to digital platforms over the past decade, and this change forces those platforms to pay for the news content they republish and profit from—potentially helping fund journalism and local newsrooms that have been hit hard by the shift to online.

What happens at this stage

The final vote in this chamber on the bill as a whole, after all amendments have been considered. If it passes, the bill moves to the other chamber to go through the same process. If both chambers have already agreed to identical text, the bill proceeds directly to Royal Assent.

Next: The other chamber, which runs the same process from First Reading, or Royal Assent if both chambers have already agreed