Australia plans to let users switch off social media algorithms

Australians would get a setting to switch off the algorithm that decides what shows up in their social media feed, under draft "digital duty of care" laws the government plans to introduce this week.

Communications Minister Anika Wells said on ABC's Today program that the bill would require named platforms, including Meta, Google, and TikTok, to offer a non-algorithmic feed. Non-compliance would carry "substantial" penalties, she said, without detailing the size.

The mechanism is not yet finalised: the government is still taking expert advice on whether the choice will be opt-in or opt-out, and which firms fall in scope. Wells told the BBC the aim is to force platforms to "identify the risks... and making big tech mitigate against those risks on their platform."

The bill is the next step in Australia's platform-safety program after the world-first under-16 social media ban took effect in December 2025. Wells acknowledged on Sunday that no tech firm has yet been fined under that ban, despite research showing most under-16s remain on the platforms.

Opposition Liberal Party leader Angus Taylor said he was "highly sceptical" and called the move "an attempt by the government to censor social media." The Guardian reports the proposal is the next step in a broader platform-safety push that includes the under-16 ban. An independent explainer at The Conversation frames the proposal against the EU's Digital Services Act and the limits of US Section 230.