Australia passed a law on Thursday ordering Meta Platforms' (META) Facebook and Instagram, Alphabet's (GOOG, GOOGL) Google, Microsoft's (MSFT) LinkedIn and ByteDance's TikTok to pay millions of dollars in payments if they don't forge commercial deals with media outlets for posting news on their platforms, Reuters reported Thursday.

The law, called the News Bargaining Incentive, taxes the social media platforms 2.5% on ad revenues to be paid to Australian news outlets unless they make deals with the media organizations, the report said.

The tax applies to companies with significant social media or search services in Australia with annual ad revenue, exceeding 250 million Australian dollars ($178.1 million), the report said.

Meta, Google, Microsoft and TikTok did not immediately respond to MT Newswires' request for comment.

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