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Freedom251 › Blog › Algorithms

My Feed, My Way in Australia: What the Draft Social-Media Algorithm Choice Actually Does

By Freedom251 Team · · 13 min read

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Short answer: “My Feed, My Way” was not an active Australian user right as of 13 October 2026. It was a proposed feed-choice feature in an exposure draft of a broader Digital Duty of Care bill. The government said Australians would be offered a choice between a personalised recommendation feed and a feed showing posts from accounts they follow, but the draft had not been enacted or commenced.

That distinction matters. The proposal identifies a possible control, yet the available material does not show how reliably platforms would implement it, how easy it would be to change, who would judge compliance, or whether it would reduce harm. “Another slogan, nothing solved” is therefore a criticism of an unproven proposal—not evidence that the government proposed no mechanism at all.

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What “My Feed, My Way” is supposed to be

The phrase is the name the Australian Government gave to a proposed user choice over a social-media service’s default feed. In the government’s 8 September 2026 announcement, platforms would have to notify new and existing users about the choice. A user could select:

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  • Personalised recommendations: the familiar ranking system that uses algorithmic signals to suggest posts, accounts, videos or other material.
  • Followed-account content: a feed centred on friends, creators and other accounts the user has chosen to follow, without the same personalised recommendation layer.

Communications Minister Anika Wells described Australians over 16 as being able to choose the feed they see when opening an app. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese presented the idea as a transfer of control from platforms to users, saying: “This is not about giving government control, it is about giving people control.”

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The proposal was part of the Online Safety Amendment (Digital Duty of Care) Bill 2026 exposure draft. It was not announced as a separate app, switch or consumer product, and the government’s own materials said legislation still had to be introduced to Parliament.

Is the Digital Duty of Care law in force?

Not on the evidence available by 13 October 2026. The official record establishes an exposure draft, a consultation process and an intention to introduce legislation later in 2026. It does not establish enactment, commencement, or a live statutory setting that Australians can already invoke.

Date What happened What it means
26 May 2026 The communications department published an issues paper on developing a Digital Duty of Care framework. The policy was still being designed, with further consultation planned.
8 September 2026 The government announced “My Feed, My Way” and released an exposure draft of the Online Safety Amendment (Digital Duty of Care) Bill 2026 for targeted consultation. The feed choice was a proposed legislative obligation, not an operating legal right.
22 September 2026, 12pm The exposure-draft page listed the deadline for feedback. The consultation deadline had passed by the date of the available record.
By 13 October 2026 Government materials still described the bill as awaiting introduction to Parliament. No enactment or commencement was established. Parliamentary status should be checked again before relying on it.

Exposure drafts can change substantially after consultation and parliamentary debate. Even if a bill is introduced, its final text, commencement date, transitional rules and technical requirements may differ from the September proposal. A press release records what ministers announced; it is not itself proof that every proposed obligation has become law.

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How the proposed choice would work

The government’s stated design can be reduced to a practical sequence, although this sequence describes an intended future obligation rather than a feature available today.

  1. Notice: the service would notify both new and existing users that a default-feed choice exists.
  2. Selection: the user would opt in to personalised recommendations or opt out and receive content from followed accounts.
  3. Default at app opening: the selected mode would govern the feed presented when the user opens the service.
  4. Changing one’s mind: at the launch press conference, Wells said users should be able to choose again if their preference changed. The exposure draft was also described as allowing government rules about user-empowerment tools.

The announcement does not establish every detail a user would need to judge the experience: whether the setting would be available on every device, whether it would apply across linked accounts, how often a platform could ask a user to reconsider, or what would happen to search, notifications, recommendations outside the home feed and advertising.

What the proposal does not promise

It does not promise a completely chronological internet, removal of all algorithms, or a guarantee that every item in a feed is accurate or safe. The followed-account option still depends on whom a user follows and what those accounts post. It also does not, in the material released on 8 September, create a general right to delete recommendation systems from search results, notifications, short-video queues or advertisements.

Nor does the proposal establish that a user can force a platform to show every post from every followed account. Ranking, moderation and technical limits could still matter, subject to whatever final rules Parliament adopts. Those boundaries are precisely why the final statutory language and regulator guidance will be important.

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Personalised feed versus followed-account feed

The two announced modes are not simply “good algorithm” and “bad algorithm.” They make different trade-offs between discovery and control. The available sources establish the proposed choices but provide no independent trial comparing safety, wellbeing, time spent or content quality.

Question Personalised recommendation feed Followed-account feed
Where does content come from? Accounts a user follows plus material selected by recommendation systems. Friends, creators and other accounts the user has chosen to follow.
Discovery Designed to introduce unfamiliar accounts and topics. More limited to the user’s existing choices; discovery may be narrower.
User control Users control some follows, but ranking also reflects platform signals. The proposed design gives the user a clearer boundary around the accounts supplying the feed.
Ease of switching The announcement says users could opt in or opt out; detailed interface requirements were not established. The same proposed choice would govern selection and later changes.
Consistency Would depend on whether the service applies the preference across sessions and surfaces. Would depend on whether the service keeps recommendations out of the selected feed and does not make it materially unusable.
Evidence of outcomes No published outcome measurements for this proposal. No published outcome measurements for this proposal.

A followed-account feed could still contain upsetting, misleading or harmful posts shared by followed accounts. Conversely, a recommendation system can sometimes help users find useful material. The proposal changes who gets to set the default ranking logic; it does not guarantee a harmless information environment.

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What would count as a meaningful choice?

The phrase “opt in or opt out easily” raises practical tests that a finished law would need to answer. Is the notice written in plain language? Can a user reach the setting from the main feed rather than search through account menus? Is the non-personalised option available in the same number of taps and with comparable loading speed? Can a person change it without losing follows, saved posts or other account data?

A durable choice also needs a clear confirmation. If a platform repeatedly displays prompts until a user accepts recommendations, the formal ability to refuse may become a formality. Conversely, a service should not make changing back so difficult that a one-time selection becomes permanent in practice. The press conference record shows that journalists were already asking how such design choices would be controlled.

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What else is in the proposed Digital Duty of Care?

“My Feed, My Way” sits inside a wider preventive-safety framework. The government said the draft would require online services to take reasonable steps to prevent foreseeable harms. The May 2026 framework paper described legislation being developed under the Online Safety Act 2021 and said consultation would inform the design.

The September announcement linked the feed choice with several broader duties:

  • proposed protections for people under 18 from specified harmful content and design features;
  • documentation of the measures a service takes to address identified risks;
  • oversight and enforcement by the eSafety Commissioner; and
  • a proposed maximum penalty of up to A$109.2 million for failure to comply.

A$109.2 million is the government’s stated proposed maximum, not a fine already imposed, a guaranteed amount, or evidence that the penalty has deterred any platform. The available material reports no enforcement outcome under this proposal.

Why children’s protections matter

The feed choice was discussed alongside proposed protections for under-18s, but the announcement does not provide a complete service-by-service list of covered platforms or every prohibited design feature. Age thresholds, verification, parental involvement and transition arrangements would need to be clear in the bill and subsequent rules. A user over 16 was the age group Wells specifically described in relation to choosing a feed; that statement should not be expanded into assumptions about every younger user or every service.

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Why a feed switch does not, by itself, solve the problem

The title’s “Nothing Solved” argument points to unanswered implementation questions. Those questions are not proof that platforms would evade the rules, but they determine whether the mechanism would deliver meaningful control.

Will the non-personalised option be genuinely usable?

At the launch press conference, journalists asked what would stop a platform from making the non-personalised option inferior, removing functions from it or otherwise steering users back to recommendations. A legal requirement to offer a choice is weaker if one option is slow, confusing, buried in menus or missing important features.

What counts as a followed-account feed?

The government described content from friends and creators a user chooses to follow. The final rules would need to clarify whether “suggested” posts, paid placements, reshared material, trending modules, notifications or autoplay queues could appear alongside that content. Without precise boundaries, two services could claim compliance while delivering very different experiences.

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How persistent is the choice?

A meaningful preference must survive ordinary use: opening the app on another device, reinstalling it, switching accounts or accepting an update. The announcement says users should be able to choose again, but the reviewed material does not specify storage, portability, confirmation prompts or default restoration after a reset.

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Who decides whether a platform complied?

The proposal places enforcement with the eSafety Commissioner, while the press conference recorded questions about definitions and who would determine whether obligations had been met. The practical test will require evidence: interface records, technical logs, user complaints, audits or other material showing what a service offered and what it actually delivered.

Does less recommendation mean less harm?

The available sources contain no measured results for uptake, exposure to harmful content, wellbeing, time spent, user satisfaction or changes to recommendation systems. Removing one recommendation layer may alter exposure, but the direction and size of any effect cannot be inferred from the announcement alone.

How compliance could be judged

For users, the most useful accountability question is not simply whether a button exists, but whether the selected mode operates as described over time. Evidence might include the wording and timing of notices, records showing when a preference was selected, tests on different devices, complaint data and audits of what appears in each feed. None of those measurements had been published for this proposal by 13 October.

The eSafety Commissioner’s proposed role matters because a large maximum penalty is meaningful only if the regulator has a workable standard, investigative powers and a process for deciding when a breach occurred. The sources identify the proposed enforcement architecture but do not report a completed investigation, penalty or compliance benchmark.

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The government’s case—and the counterarguments

The government frames the initiative as user empowerment within a broader safety duty. Wells said: “When it comes to social media, Australians over the age of 16 will be able to opt in or opt out of the algorithm easily.” That is a statement of intended policy design, not a report of an operating service.

Contemporaneous reporting and questions at the press conference raised competing concerns about platform compliance, the scope of “harm,” definitions and free expression. Those concerns should remain attributed to the journalists, commentators or organisations making them. They are not established predictions that the law would censor lawful speech or that platforms would inevitably frustrate the choice.

The central policy tension is straightforward: a rule can require a service to expose a setting while leaving room for disputes over interface design, ranking, moderation and the meaning of “reasonable steps.” The final legislation and enforcement practice would decide how much of that room remains.

How do I turn off the algorithm in Australia?

As of the date covered by the official materials, there was no newly created Australian statutory setting to turn off social-media algorithms. You cannot rely on “My Feed, My Way” as an available legal switch until legislation is enacted, commenced and implemented by the relevant service.

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For now, a user can only use controls that an individual platform already provides, such as following specific accounts, muting topics or adjusting an app’s own feed settings. Those controls vary by service and are not the proposed national right. A platform’s existing “following” view should not be described as proof that the Digital Duty of Care has taken effect.

If you need to know whether the proposed right has become real, check three separate facts rather than a slogan:

  1. Has Parliament passed the bill, and what is the final text?
  2. Has the law commenced, or is there a later commencement date?
  3. Has the service published the required notice and implemented the choice in the form the law requires?
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Common reader questions

What is “My Feed, My Way”?

It is the government’s name for a proposed choice between a personalised recommendation feed and a feed based on accounts a user follows. It was announced as part of the draft Digital Duty of Care, not as a standalone product.

Can Australians opt out of social-media algorithms now?

There was no new national statutory opt-out established by the official materials available on 13 October 2026. Existing platform settings may offer limited alternatives, but they are not evidence that the proposed law is in force.

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Who would be covered?

Wells specifically described Australians over 16 choosing the feed they see. The broader draft also addressed protections for under-18s. Exact coverage would depend on the final legislation and rules.

Is A$109.2 million an actual fine?

No. It was the government’s stated proposed maximum penalty for failure to comply with the proposed Digital Duty of Care. No fine or enforcement outcome under this proposal was reported in the materials available by 13 October.

Will the followed-account feed be chronological?

The announcement says it would show friends and creators a user chose to follow. It does not establish a chronological-order requirement or settle how reposts, ads, moderation and other modules would be handled.

Can a user change the choice later?

Wells said users should be able to choose again if they changed their mind. The detailed process, frequency limits and technical persistence requirements were not established.

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Does the proposal ban recommendation algorithms?

No. It proposes a choice between a personalised mode and a followed-account mode. It does not describe a general ban on algorithms across every social-media feature.

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Where can I verify the status?

Check the Parliament’s bill record, the department’s exposure-draft and consultation pages, and later notices from the eSafety Commissioner or the relevant service. Look for enactment and commencement, not only an announcement headline.

What readers should watch next

The most informative developments will be concrete rather than rhetorical:

  • the bill actually introduced to Parliament and any changes from the exposure draft;
  • the final definition of a personalised feed and a followed-account feed;
  • rules for children and teenagers, including which services and design features are covered;
  • technical or interface standards governing notice, selection and repeat choice;
  • guidance from the eSafety Commissioner on evidence and enforcement;
  • transparency reports or audits showing whether platforms apply the selected mode consistently; and
  • independent measurements of user agency, harmful-content exposure and other outcomes.

Until those details exist, the proposal can be assessed as a mechanism under development, not as a proven intervention.

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Verdict: a specific proposal, not a solved problem

“My Feed, My Way” is more than a slogan: the government described a concrete two-option feed choice, placed it in a draft Digital Duty of Care and attached proposed duties, oversight and penalties. But it was still an exposure-draft policy awaiting parliamentary action. No operating implementation, enforcement result or measured safety benefit had been established by 13 October 2026.

The accurate conclusion is therefore narrower and more useful than either cheerleading or dismissal. Australia had a proposed route to give users more control over recommendation feeds. Whether that route works will depend on the final law, the quality of the interface, the durability of the preference, the treatment of children and the evidence produced after implementation.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is “My Feed, My Way” law in Australia?

No. As of 13 October 2026, it was part of an exposure draft awaiting introduction and parliamentary action, not an enacted or commenced statutory right.

How would the proposed feed choice work?

Platforms would notify new and existing users and offer a choice between personalised recommendations and content from accounts the user follows.

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Can I turn off social-media algorithms today under this proposal?

No new national switch was established. Use any controls already offered by your platform, but do not treat them as proof that the Digital Duty of Care has commenced.

What penalty did the government propose?

The government stated that failure to comply with the proposed Digital Duty of Care could attract a maximum penalty of up to A$109.2 million. That was not an imposed fine.

Would the followed-account feed remove all harmful content?

No. Followed accounts could still share upsetting, misleading or harmful material, and the proposal does not guarantee a harmless feed.

Could users change their selection?

Communications Minister Anika Wells said users should be able to choose again if their preference changed, but detailed technical rules were not yet established.

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The Bottom Line

Bottom line: “My Feed, My Way” was a draft mechanism, not a live Australian right. The proposed choice could improve user control, but its value depends on final legislation, usable implementation, durable settings, enforcement and measured results that did not yet exist by 13 October 2026.

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