A woman scrolls through the Instagram application on her smartphone on March 12, 2026 in Sartene Corsica, France.
Grishka Bason-Leandri | AFP | Getty Images
Australia plans to give social media users the ability to turn off algorithm-based feeds in proposed legislation, the government and regulators making the latest move to rein in Big Tech this year.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s government announced on Tuesday that it is proposing a “My Feed My Way” initiative. This would force social media platforms to either choose to show users over the age of 16 a feed of algorithmically personalized content recommendations, or to “opt out” of only seeing content from friends and creators they choose to follow.
The bill, drafted for targeted consultation and published on Tuesday, would require platforms to send notifications to new and existing users to allow them to choose a default feed. Social media companies that fail to comply could be fined up to A$109.2 million ($79 million).
The measure, due to be introduced in the Australian Parliament this year, will also require AI chatbots, online games and other digital services to take steps to protect under-18s from addictive design features.
“This isn’t about giving control to the government; it’s about giving control to people. It’s about putting online choice back into the hands of Australians,” Mr Albanese said of the proposed legislation at a press conference on Tuesday.
He added: “This is smart, pragmatic, pragmatic reform that gives users choice and holds big tech companies accountable for their inaction.”
Some social media platforms now allow users to maintain some degree of separation of the content they see from their friends and acquaintances. For example, TikTok has a “Friends” tab that displays your friends’ posts alongside a primarily recommendation-driven feed.
Facebook offers a friends-only feed, while Instagram offers a follow feed and a favorites feed. YouTube has a subscription feed, and Snapchat separates friends’ Stories from public content.
Last year, Australia became the first country in the world to introduce a social media ban for under-16s. The UK, France and Spain are among the countries considering restricting children’s access to social media.
The ban has had mixed reactions, with Albanians calling it “world-leading,” but a study by the country’s eSafety Commissioner found that three months after the ban, more than 81 per cent of Australian children were still using at least one age-restricted platform. This is hardly a decrease from the 86% of children who were using these platforms before the ban.
The report also found that 58% of teenagers still use social media daily or more frequently, down from around 60% before the ban.
social media trial
As part of the settlement, Meta agreed to make changes to its platform for users under 18 in the coming months, including allowing them to choose non-algorithmic feeds. As part of several changes, we’re also introducing a two-hour daily usage limit and disabling extreme makeup and cosmetic surgery filters.
Meta and YouTube lost a social media addiction trial in Los Angeles earlier this year. The lawsuit was brought by a plaintiff who claimed that these platforms’ addictive features, such as autoplay and infinite scrolling, were damaging her mental health.
Meta lost another social media lawsuit brought by New Mexico Attorney General Raul Torrez in March after a court found the company violated the state’s child safety law and ordered it to pay more than $900 million in fines.
California Attorney General Rob Bonta, who led the recent case against Mehta, said he would target TikTok, YouTube and Snapchat next.
