‘Global reckoning’ is coming for big tech, says Australian minister

Australian Minister for Communications Anika Wells announced plans to introduce legislation that would regulate digital services and impose a "digital duty of care." This new law aims to replicate the safety standards that currently apply to products like cars, food, and appliances for the online tools and services that Australians use. While companies will still be able to innovate rapidly, Wells emphasized that they will not be permitted to create products that malfunction.

Australia's proposed digital duty of care follows a similar model to the UK's online safety bill, which aims to protect children from harmful content online. The law would give social media companies the responsibility to provide Australian users with the choice to determine what they see in their feeds, putting the concept of a duty of care central to the law of torts.

The Minister explained that the proposed law is not about government censorship but about giving users control over their digital experiences. The digital platforms would need to offer users the ability to opt into a feed of content only from accounts they follow, as well as the option to switch back to an algorithmic feed at any time.

The law would also empower the relevant minister to seek a vote to ban certain content, such as content that glorifies crime, promotes terrorism, pertains to eating disorders, pornography, sexual violence, and misogyny.

Wells noted that the process of declaring content harmful would begin with the minister consulting with Australia’s e-Safety Commissioner, who could recommend specific types of content be labeled as harmful. The recommendation would then be subject to a parliamentary vote before becoming enforceable. The proposal draws its inspiration from the 1932 legal case Donoghue v Stevenson, which established the concept of a duty of care in tort law.