Key facts
- Australia's proposed law aims to give users more control over algorithmic feeds on social media.
- The legislation would empower Australia's Communications Minister to set binding rules on platforms.
- A U.S. warning highlighted potential unintended consequences, including overly stringent content moderation by low-risk services.
- Australian lawmakers argue the law empowers users, not the government, and addresses tech companies treating users like products.
- Lawmakers cited concerns about misogynistic, violent, antisemitic, and homophobic material being sent to young people.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese defended a proposed law aimed at increasing social media platforms' duty of care, pushing back against a U.S. warning about potential unintended consequences. Speaking in New York, Albanese stated he would "always stand up for Australia’s national interest" and framed the reform as a way to give users more control over the content they see on their devices, rather than granting government control.
The proposal would allow users to opt out of algorithmic feeds and empower the Communications Minister to issue binding rules on compliance and harms that platforms must avoid. An assessment by the Office of Impact Analysis, part of the Prime Minister's department, published on September 9, identified possible unintended outcomes, such as low-risk online services adopting excessively cautious approaches to harm prevention, potentially leading to more stringent content moderation than intended. The government indicated this risk would be managed through advice to social media companies.
Labor parliamentarians have voiced strong support for the initiative. Josh Burns, a Melbourne-based MP who testified to the Antisemitism Royal Commission about online abuse he experienced, stated the government "makes no apologies for taking on the tech sector," accusing companies of treating Australians like products. He criticized algorithms for being designed to hold attention in "unhelpful and destructive ways" solely for profit, leading to the relentless dissemination of harmful material to young people with inadequate responses from tech firms. Ed Husic, another Labor MP and former industry minister, countered characterizations of the law as government overreach, asserting it provides social media users with the "choice to exercise their free will."