Australians will be able to switch off social media algorithms under planned legislation
Firms like Meta, Google and TikTok should face "substantial" penalties if they don't give the option, minister says.
Australians would be able to switch off social media algorithms under draft legislation to be proposed this week.
Communications Minister Anika Wells, who last year helmed the government's world-first social media ban for under-16s, said the digital duty of care laws would ensure "some basic safety protections on an industry that hasn't had to observe it".
If tech firms such as Meta, Google and TikTok did not give the option to turn off algorithms, they should face "substantial" penalties, she said.
"A lot of Australians will want to choose the algorithm. But we think that big tech should offer them the choice in the first place and they should respect that choice.