The story so far: Australia has announced a plan to offer social media users greater control over their feed by providing them a choice to opt out of algorithm-driven feed. The draft legislation for the Digital Duty of Care was released on Tuesday (September 8, 2026) for targeted consultation. Part of the country’s push for greater online safety norms, the plan ensures that Australian users have more choice on what they see online.
Users can choose between their default feed, which includes personalised content, and a feed without the algorithm-prescribed content, and see posts of friends and creators they choose to follow. Tech firms will also have to send pop-up messages to both new and existing users offering them the choice over their feed. Apart from this, it also wants to empower eSafety, a government agency responsible for the regulation of online safety, to send removal notices to apps and websites. The exact nature of the changes and what they will look like will only be known once Australia finishes consultations and introduces the legislation in Parliament.
The Australian government has said that the new laws will place the burden on social media companies to provide a safe online experience for users. “The digital duty of care will ensure online service providers – including some of the most powerful companies in the world – step up and do more to keep Australians safe from harm on their platforms,” said Australian Minister for Communications Anika Wells. These laws will include the “My Feed, My Way” initiative, which will allow users to make decisions about their algorithms. The government is seeking feedback from digital platforms, industry bodies, civil society organisations and advocates on the draft laws “We support an approach that gives people meaningful choice and control over the content they see, while managing safety risks,” a DIGI spokesperson reportedly said. However, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has said, “This is not about giving government control, it is about giving people control.”
