SYDNEY, Dec 12 (Reuters) - Australia plans new rules to

"create a financial incentive" for big tech firms to pay

Australian media companies for news content on their platforms,

Assistant Treasurer and Minister for Financial Services Stephen

Jones announced on Thursday.

The move, described as a "news bargaining initiative", piles

pressure on global tech giants like Facebook-owner Meta

Platforms ( META ) and Google to pay publishers for

content or face the risk of paying millions to continue

operations in Australia.

"The News Bargaining Initiative will ... will create a

financial incentive for agreement-making between digital

platforms and news media businesses in Australia," Jones told a

press conference.

The platforms at risk of the charge will be significant

social media platforms and search engines with an

Australian-based revenue in excess of $250 million, he said.

The charge will be offset for any commercial agreements that

are voluntarily entered into between the platforms and news

media businesses, he added.

Australia in 2021 passed laws to make the U.S. tech giants,

such as Alphabet's Google and Meta, compensate media companies

for the links that drive readers - and advertising revenue - to

their platforms.

"We agree with the government that the current law is flawed

and continue to have concerns about charging one industry to

subsidise another," a Meta spokesman said after Jones'

announcement.

"The proposal fails to account for the realities of how our

platforms work, specifically that most people don't come to our

platforms for news content and that news publishers voluntarily

choose to post content on our platforms because they receive

value from doing so."

Meta struck deals with several Australian media firms

including News Corp ( NWSA ) and national broadcaster Australian

Broadcasting Corp but has since said it will not renew those

arrangements beyond 2024.