Algorithm opt-out plan faces major political hurdles
Lucinda Garbutt-Young |
A social media crackdown that would force tech giants to offer an algorithm opt-out faces major hurdles after a key minor party dismissed proposed penalties as “bugger all”.
An exposure draft of a much-anticipated “digital duty of care” is expected to be released in the coming sitting fortnight as Labor steps up efforts to tackle online harm.
It would put the onus on social media companies to mitigate risk on their platforms, including actively removing illegal or harmful content.
Opt-out options for algorithms would be made mandatory, giving users the choice to take their social media feeds back to the friends-only content they once were.
Several areas are expected to be identified as off-limits to minors due to the potential for psychological harm, including content that promoted harmful body image.
Companies could face fines of up to $100 million if the laws were breached.
The changes would prevent boys from being bombarded with violent and misogynistic material, Labor’s Matt Thistlethwaite told News24’s Sunday Agenda program.
“Many Australian parents have said that they’re concerned about their children being exposed to this material,” he said.
“We think that the platforms have a responsibility to try and keep young Australian kids safe.”
But the measure could struggle to pass the Senate, falling short of the opt-in model put forward by some campaigners.
Tech companies would see the proposed fines as part of doing business, Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young told reporters, instead calling for penalties calculated based on each firm’s global profits.
“The power of big tech is so immense and you can’t take them on and hit them at their business model with half-baked measures,” she said.
“The government’s really going to have to toughen up.
“Either take on big tech properly, or you’ll end up putting in place a scheme that really does bugger all.”
The Greens are awaiting details of the exposure draft before deciding how to vote, while Senator Hanson-Young has proposed her own bill, calling for an algorithm opt-out to be the default setting.
That measure has been the focus of a campaign by Teach Us Consent’s Fix Our Feeds, which has been pushing for linear social media feeds to be the default option.
The organisation’s founder, Chanel Contos, recently said an algorithm opt-out was a good first step, but the measure did not go far enough to stop boys and young men being exposed to harmful content.
An opt-in model would “fundamentally make the transition onto social media for 16-year-olds and other children safer, and it would bring the principle of affirmative consent to our screens”, she told the National Press Club.
The coalition is also yet to establish its position on the proposal, but Opposition Leader Angus Taylor on Sunday expressed doubts about Labor’s plan.
He said parents should have more control over what their children could see on social media, but he was “deeply sceptical” that the proposal wasn’t an attempt to censor people’s feeds.
Mr Taylor accused Labor of butchering the already implemented under-16s social media ban – which the coalition supported – adding the government should focus on fixing that policy.
More than 80 per cent of 12-to-17-year-olds were still using socials following the December 2025 crackdown, previous University of Newcastle research showed.
Other coalition frontbenchers have been split on the algorithm opt-out proposal.
Opposition communications spokeswoman Sarah Henderson called out the “insidious psychological manipulation” of young people through “dreadful” algorithms.
In contrast, Nationals leader Matt Canavan suggested school curriculums were to blame – rather than social media – for boys and young men becoming radicalised with misogynistic views.
AAP