Australia Drafts Bill to Let Users Disable Social Media Algorithms
The Spin
Left narrative
Handing people an off switch for recommender feeds is a long-overdue win. Putting the onus on companies to test and manage foreseeable harms before rolling out features, with fines topping $100 million, finally treats these products like the risky businesses they are. Genuine user control beats deleting social media altogether.
Right narrative
A digital duty of care built on a vague, ever-expanding notion of "serious harms" is just a censorship machine, and it covers the entire internet — messaging apps, AI tools, app stores and all. Handing an unaccountable eSafety Commissioner discretion to invent new harms revives abandoned misinformation laws through the back door and invites over-compliance and surveillance. Trading the algorithm for government-defined settings is no freedom at all.
