On September 7, 2026, the Australian government plans to introduce a draft law on digital platform obligations this week, aiming to give citizens the right to disable social media recommendation algorithms. Communications Minister Anika Wells stated that the bill will establish basic regulations for the social media industry, and companies such as Meta, Google, and TikTok will face severe penalties if they fail to provide such options or respect users’ choices. Previously, these platforms were not required to comply with relevant standards. Although some opposition parties and Liberal Party leader Angus Taylor expressed strong skepticism and criticism of the bill, the government emphasized that it would consider expert opinions to improve user choice mechanisms. This legislation marks Australia’s firm stance in addressing the expansion of power by tech giants and is expected to affect the operating rules of social media and search engines. The related plans are being gradually implemented.
The Australian government plans to introduce a draft law on the duty of care for digital platforms this week, aiming to allow citizens to disable social media recommendation algorithms. Communications Minister Anikka Wells stated that the law will provide basic regulations for the social media industry, and companies such as Meta, Google, and TikTok will face severe penalties if they do not offer such a feature. Some opposition parties express strong skepticism, and Liberal Party leader Angus Taylor criticizes the bill. Wells responded by saying that the government will seek expert opinions to determine the user selection mechanism, and emphasized that large tech companies must provide the option to disable algorithms in order to respect users’ choices.
The Australian government plans to introduce a draft law on the duty of care for digital platforms this week, aiming to allow citizens to disable social media recommendation algorithms. Communications Minister Anika Wells stated that the law will provide basic regulations for the social media industry, which previously did not have such requirements. Companies like Meta, Google, and TikTok will face severe penalties if they do not offer an option to disable the algorithms. Some opposition parties have criticized the bill, and Liberal Party leader Angus Taylor has expressed “high doubts” about it. Wells responded that the government will consider expert opinions to determine whether users should actively choose to turn on or off the algorithms, and emphasized that large tech companies must provide this option and respect users’ choices.