Australia's draft Digital Duty of Care would require social media platforms to offer algorithm-free feeds and protect minors, with penalties up to $109.2 million

The draft legislation bundles two distinct obligations onto digital service providers operating in Australia. The first is a feed-choice mandate specific to social media: platforms must notify both new and existing users, and users over 16 can either opt into algorithmically personalized content or opt out and see only the friends and creators they follow. The second is a broader duty of care covering online games, apps, AI chatbots, and messaging platforms, requiring them to protect under-18s from design features with negative behavioural impacts and from specific categories of harmful content.

The duty of care is framed as proactive rather than reactive. Digital platforms would be required to document the measures they take to address identified risks of harm to Australian users and to keep those measures effective over time. The listed harmful content categories are specific: content promoting or accelerating eating disorders, content promoting hostile ideas about women and gender equality, pornography, content glorifying crime or life-endangering stunts, and content causing serious mental health distress including abuse and bullying. eSafety also gains streamlined authority over child cyber-bullying and adult cyber-abuse schemes, plus removal-notice power for nudify apps or websites.

The enforcement mechanism is a penalty ceiling of up to $109.2 million for failure to comply with the Duty of Care, with the independent eSafety Commissioner as the enforcement body. This is not a voluntary code; it is drafted as a legal obligation with a substantial financial consequence. The comparison Minister Anika Wells draws is to basic safety standards for cars, toys, and food, positioning the duty as a baseline product-safety regime for digital services rather than a content-moderation afterthought.

The legislation is not yet final. The government is seeking feedback from digital platforms, industry bodies, civil society organisations, and advocates, with the stated intention to introduce legislation to Parliament this year. The My Feed My Way feed-choice requirement is tied to the over-16 age bracket, aligning with the previously passed social media age ban referenced in the material. What the draft does not specify is the technical mechanism platforms must use to present the choice, how often the notification must recur, or how eSafety will assess whether documented risk measures remain effective over time.

This story was carried by a single feed, so the framing here reflects one source. The material is a government announcement, which means the claims about scope, penalties, and timelines are policy intentions stated by the Albanese Government rather than independently verified enacted law. Engineers building or operating services that could fall under the definition of a digital service in Australia should treat the specific content categories, the under-18 design-feature restrictions, and the feed-choice mandate as the concrete requirements to watch as the draft moves toward Parliament.