Laws to give social media users more choice of what they see online have been welcomed by experts as Labor faces pushback from the Coalition over claims of censorship.
The federal government is set to unveil draft laws in coming days that would allow people to opt out of algorithms dictated by social media giants.
Swinburne University media expert Belinda Barnet said the ability to opt-out would go some way to reducing the addictive nature of social media.
“It’s actually not that radical. It’s just kind of a move back in time to before all of these automated, essentially AI algorithms,” Barnet told AAP.
“It’s not going to get rid of predators or the many other issues that they could encounter on digital platforms … this is really just removing one of the addictive elements from it.”
The plan has already been criticised by the Coalition, who claim the policy is overreach and could amount to censorship.
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Nationals Leader Matt Canavan said government’s should not have the power to control social media content.
“People should be able to freely express their views, and any attempt to silence or gag or influence those by governments should be absolutely rejected in a free and open democratic society,” he told reporters.
But Barnet said while the algorithm opt-out sounds scary at first, it only removes one addictive element.
“Is it a form of censorship to say that our kids can’t watch an adult-only movie?
“I guess you could argue that it is, but the reason that we’re saying they can’t watch that is actually to prevent harm.”
Barnet has advocated for an opt-in approach instead of the proposed opt-out which she said would be more effective.
Health Minister Mark Butler said the reforms were crucial to keeping people safe online.
“The idea is that this is some censorship or infringement of civil liberties almost harks back to the days of the 1970s when people were protesting about seatbelts being introduced to cars,” he told ABC Radio.
“It’s pretty unremarkable really to expect that big companies have a duty of care not to harm Australian citizens, particularly, frankly, young Australians.”
Communications Minister Anika Wells said people online needed to have greater control on what they see on their social media feeds.
“I want Big Tech to respect that choice, and if they don’t respect that choice, I want Big Tech to suffer big fines,” she said.
The Greens said they were awaiting the draft legislation before deciding their approach, but Senator Sarah Hanson-Young has proposed her own bill, calling for an algorithm opt-out to be the default setting.
The communications minister is also ramping up a push to get tougher rules for a social media ban for under-16s through the parliament.
While tech giants have introduced various age-verification measures to comply with the policy, they have been widely criticised as ineffective and easy for teens to skirt.
Under the proposed amendments, tech companies could be fined up to $109.2 million (US$78.6 million) for breaching the laws, doubling the current maximum penalty of $54.6 million, which already went up slightly in July.
The changes would give eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant increased powers to investigate non-compliance after she complained of “thin scaffolding” and limited means of remedy for policy breaches.
More than five million Australian accounts had been removed or deactivated, but about 80 percent of teenagers younger than 16 were still using social media after the December ban, according to research released in June.
By Noah Secomb, Lucinda Garbutt-Young and Andrew Brown in Canberra
