TLDR
Meta's 'Your Algorithm' tool reached Facebook globally on 13 October 2026, letting users type topic preferences in plain language for real-time feed updates. The feature tunes rather than removes the algorithm, which puts it short of what Australia's proposed opt-out feed law would require of platforms.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
What Meta announced
Meta deployed 'Your Algorithm' on Facebook globally on 13 October 2026, letting users shape their Feed and Reels by typing, in their own words, the topics they want more or less of, with changes reflected in real time.[1] The entry point is the three-dot menu on any post, which surfaces 'Interested' or 'Not interested' options and can prompt follow-up questions to sharpen the preference.[1]
A user who tells the tool to show fewer cooking videos will see fewer cooking videos. The underlying recommendation system keeps running; the user has given it more data, not turned it off.
A platform-wide rollout
Instagram's version of 'Your Algorithm' launched on Reels in December 2025 and reached the main Feed and Explore in June 2026, B&T reported.[4] Threads added its own variant, 'Dear Algo', on 11 February 2026, letting users type requests in public posts to adjust the topics they see for three days.[2]
The Facebook announcement extends a pattern Meta has been building for roughly ten months across its apps: more explicit user input, feeding the same recommendation engine rather than replacing it.
The Australian bill's requirement
The Australian Government released draft Digital Duty of Care laws for consultation on 8 September 2026, five weeks before the Facebook announcement.[3] Their 'My Feed, My Way' measure would require platforms to tell users about their default feed options and let them opt out of algorithmic recommendations for a chronological timeline of accounts they follow. Communications Minister Anika Wells said Australians over 16 would be able to opt in or out.[3]
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said: "This is not about giving government control, it is about giving people control."[3]
The gap between that requirement and Meta's tool is precise: the law asks for removal of the algorithm, and Meta has offered refinement of it. A user operating 'Your Algorithm' is still inside a recommendation system; a user exercising the right the bill describes would see only posts from accounts they chose to follow, ordered by time.
What it means for marketers and publishers
Marta Yortt, Founder of MYCM Creative, identified a practical complication for the legislation's intent. "Switching the algorithm off doesn't unfollow the accounts you picked up while it was on, so for existing users the content that got them there is still sitting in their feed," Yortt said.[4] For brands, a chronological opt-out would not reset a follower's relationship with a page; it would simply change the order in which that page's posts appeared.
The more immediate question for media buyers and publishers is what 'Your Algorithm' does to organic reach on Facebook right now. As users type explicit topic preferences into the tool, those said preferences become a new content-filtering layer sitting on top of the engagement data that currently governs distribution. How much weight Meta gives said preferences against behavioural data is not disclosed in its release. Meta had not commented publicly on the gap between its tool and the Australian bill's requirements at the time of writing.
The Digital Duty of Care bill remains in draft form, with no legislated compliance date yet set for the 'My Feed, My Way' provision.
SOURCES & CITATIONS
Xaviery Malinao writes for Prompt the Market on how brands and agencies are adapting to answer engines, drawing on Bushnote's work with clients across search, AI search and content.
