Australia is set to introduce legislation that would give social media users the option to switch off algorithms that determine the content displayed on their feeds.
The move underscores the growing concern over virtually unrestricted social media consumption, with increasing calls for individuals to take control of what they are exposed to on digital platforms.
Australia’s Communications Minister Anika Wells said the proposed digital duty of care laws would provide basic safety protections for Australians using social media platforms, according to a BBC report.
Wells, who led the government’s world-first social media ban for under-16s introduced last year, said technology companies would be required to give users greater control over what they see online.
She said platforms operated by technology giants such as Meta, Google and TikTok could face substantial penalties if they failed to provide an option for users to turn off algorithmically curated feeds.
“We want to give Australians more choice over what they see on their social media feeds,” Wells told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC).
“The government recognises that many Australians find algorithms useful because they help users discover content that matches their interests, including local businesses and community activities.”
She, however, said users should be given the freedom to decide whether they wanted algorithmically selected content.
“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,” the BBC reported her as saying.
Wells said technology companies should not be treated as a “protected species”, adding that they should be subject to basic safety standards like other industries.
She said the proposed legislation would be developed with expert advice, including whether users should be required to opt in or opt out of algorithm-driven social media feeds.
The government’s approach means that legislation could be introduced before all the technical details of implementation are fully determined, similar to its approach to the under-16 social media ban.
Wells also acknowledged that no technology company had so far been fined for failing to enforce the existing social media restrictions.
This is in spite of research indicating that many under-16 users who were on the platforms before the ban remained active on them.
Wells rejected the criticism, saying the proposed measures were not designed to censor social media or restrict freedom of expression.
The minister said it was not about censorship, as the proposal had attracted mixed reactions from opposition politicians, with some supporting the principle of giving users greater control over social media content.
“This isn’t about censorship. This is about identifying risks or making big tech identify the risks on their own platform and making big tech mitigate against those risks on their platform,” she said.
Liberal Party leader Angus Taylor, however, expressed strong reservations, describing the proposal as potentially amounting to government censorship.
Taylor said the government should instead focus on addressing loopholes in the existing social media ban before introducing additional regulations.
