Labor moves to fine tech giants $100 million and let users switch off algorithms

By Diana Trent · 2026-09-05

The Albanese government will introduce its Digital Duty of Care legislation to federal parliament this week, with fines of more than $100 million for social media platforms that breach it.

Communications Minister Anika Wells is preparing to release an exposure draft of the laws starting Monday 7 September.

Social media platforms face fines exceeding $100 million under the draft if they fail to prevent illegal material including illegal pornography from reaching adult users.

Tech companies must provide users with regular pop-up messages offering an opt-out from algorithmic feeds.

Users switching off the algorithm would only see content posted by accounts they explicitly follow, presented without automated prioritisation based on demographic or location data.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese published a statement on Monday confirming the government's approach to the legislation.

"This is not about giving government control. It's about giving people control," Mr Albanese said.

"People should have control of what they consume, and tech companies have a responsibility for what they platform on their services."

In New York later this month, Mr Albanese plans to promote the Australian framework at the United Nations General Assembly.

The eSafety Commissioner and registered independent researchers will receive powers to police platforms using "sock puppet" accounts.

Investigators would pose as children online to monitor the content algorithms serve to young people.

Opposition Leader Angus Taylor said on Sunday he had not seen the proposal.

"What we want to see is parents having more control over what their kids get to see on social media, we will wait and see this legislation," Mr Taylor said.

"I am deeply sceptical. I fear that this is going to be an attempt by the government to censor social media, but as I say we haven't seen it."

Mr Taylor raised concerns regarding the amount of discretion granted to the communications minister.

"I fear, given Labor and the minister's past biases, that this will just be an attempt to censor the internet, and that's not what we should be doing," Mr Taylor said.

Liberal senator Jonno Duniam likened the proposal to the government's dumped misinformation bill.

One Nation also opposes the plan.

Ms Wells said on Monday the government wanted to establish baseline protections.

"If you walk down the toy aisle in Big W and you see plastic toys, electronic toys and iPads, you want all of those manufacturers to have abided by basic safety standards when they're selling something to our kids, and that's what big tech should have," Ms Wells said.

On Saturday, Ms Wells told a newspaper she was monitoring how tech companies might respond to an opt-out mandate.

"In other jurisdictions where people have sought to regulate the algorithm already, there's something called malicious compliance, where they'll provide an offering where a feed with an opt-out algorithm is so dull and misses all the best features, like direct messages or no stories, that the users choose to opt back into what the platform would prefer for them to use," Ms Wells said.

Shadow Communications Minister Sarah Henderson previously criticised the platforms, referencing the "insidious psychological manipulation" of children through "dreadful algorithms".

Consent advocates push for opt-in model

Teach Us Consent chief executive Chanel Contos delivered an address to the National Press Club in Canberra on Wednesday outlining a different approach.

Ms Contos wants the government to mandate an opt-in system where the default experience mirrors chronological feeds from 2016.

"It is too easy for big tech to design schemes that appear as structural reform but actually suit them just fine," Ms Contos told the audience.

"However, opt-in algorithms 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."

The Greens support an opt-in requirement for algorithmic feeds.

Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young has proposed a separate bill to make chronological feeds the default setting.

Separate age ban penalties go to Senate

The algorithm opt-out legislation arrives alongside a separate push to strengthen the government's under-16 social media ban.

A bill doubling the maximum penalty for tech companies breaching the minimum age law to $109.2 million goes before the Senate on Tuesday 8 September.

The current maximum penalty sits at $54.6 million.

"This is the kind of dawdling and delay that has enabled social media companies to get away with harming our kids for so long," Ms Wells said.

Mr Albanese said the government was doubling down on its efforts to protect children.

"This legislation will give the eSafety Commissioner new powers to crack down on platforms that refuse to follow Australian laws to ensure the ban is effective," Mr Albanese said.

"The legislation does two things. It gives the government regulator the powers it needs to collect critical evidence, and it doubles the penalty that big tech faces for breaking Australian law."

The Senate resumes sitting on Tuesday 8 September.

Diana Trent

Diana Trent writes about technology, energy and infrastructure. He likes the physical end of the story: the plants, the grids and the machines that everything else depends on.