Australia to unveil new social media digital duty of care laws

The Australian Labor government is preparing to unveil new social media regulations next week, centered on a proposed ‘digital duty of care’. The plan, which Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is expected to discuss at the United Nations, may grant Australians the right to use social media feeds free of algorithms and require platforms to proactively prevent harm rather than merely responding to individual complaints.

The proposal has drawn sharp criticism from the Coalition and One Nation, who warn that the legislation could infringe upon free speech. One Nation leader Pauline Hanson characterized the potential laws as ‘Orwellian machinery’ for government censorship, arguing that the state should not have the power to decide what constitutes misinformation or what citizens are permitted to see and share.