Australia announced draft digital duty of care laws requiring social media platforms to let users opt out of recommender algorithms. The proposed framework faces strong criticism from the United States government over censorship concerns.
Draft Legislation and Proposed Penalties
Social media platforms operating in Australia could soon be legally mandated to provide user empowerment tools. Under draft laws unveiled by the government, platforms must give users over the age of 16 a genuine and enduring choice about what they see in their feeds. Published on 7 September 2026, Communications Minister Anika Wells told the ABC national broadcaster that social media platforms face scrutiny over addictive algorithms and that the new law aims to give Australians greater feed control.
A lot of Australians appreciate the algorithm, both for the enjoyment they get out of it or the utility they get out of it, Anika Wells said
A lot of Australians will want to choose the algorithm, but we think that Big Tech should offer them the choice in the first place, and they should respect that choice. Anika Wells
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese told reporters in Canberra that the legislation would also protect children from content that promotes eating disorders, hostile ideas about women, pornography, crime, dangerous stunts, and that causes serious mental health distress.
We’ll require social media platforms to provide user empowerment tools that give people over the age of 16 genuine and enduring choice about what they see in their feeds.
— Anthony Albanese, Prime Minister of Australia
Under the proposed digital duty of care legislation, users could opt out of social media recommender algorithms via pop-up messages. Social media companies would be expected to identify and manage risks on their platforms, and the onus would be on platforms to stop harmful content, such as illegal pornography, from being shared. Under the digital duty of care, users on social media will have the option to remove an algorithm-driven feed and instead default to seeing content from people they follow directly. Tech platforms would also be forced to protect under-18s.
It gives users choice and it will hold the big tech companies responsible for inaction. If they don’t follow our laws, they will face significant penalties, Albanese said
United States Criticism and Censorship Warnings
The legislative package has drawn sharp pushback from Washington. In its response to the Federal Government’s proposed digital duty of care laws, the Trump administration said it had serious concerns with the laws, urging for American-based platforms to be exempted. In a rare submission to the proposed laws, the US embassy in Canberra said it had serious concerns
and allowing the government to enforce vague definitions of 'harm'
would lead to viewpoint-based censorship.
A framework that empowers governments to enforce vague definitions of ‘harm’ risks becoming a mechanism for viewpoint-based censorship,
the US government said in a statement posted on the American embassy to Australia website.
Platforms will be incentivised to over-moderate speech that should be protected to avoid regulatory penalties,
the US government added.
We ask that Australia clarify how exactly 'harm' and 'risks' shall be determined… ensuring these definitions do not encroach on protected speech,
the US said in its submission.
The US also claimed that the proposed laws may risk reducing the reach of independent journalists or other voices whose content touches on sensitive or controversial topics
if tech firms had to pre-emptively demote
them. An opt-out option would also, according to the US submission, allow regulators to impose rigid, one-size-fits-all platform design requirements on tech firms and this could affect users outside of Australia. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the legislation was not about giving governments control but giving it back to individuals.
Broader Online Safety Reforms and Political Reactions
The algorithm opt-out proposal follows Australia introducing world-first laws in December last year that ban children younger than 16 from holding accounts on the world’s largest social media platforms including Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok. The digital duty of care plan is separate to the government’s proposed Online Safety Amendment (Strengthening Enforcement for the Social Media Minimum Age) Bill, which aims to toughen existing rules around the under-16 social media ban.
Domestic political reactions showed varied stances. Australian opposition leader Angus Taylor told the ABC that the Coalition had not seen the Labor government’s bill.
I am deeply sceptical. I fear that this is going to be an attempt by the government to censor social media,
Angus Taylor told the ABC, warning against efforts to censor social media platforms.
