Australia: Social Media Algorithms

Debate between Baroness Twycross and Baroness Berger

Thursday 10th September 2026 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Berger]

To ask His Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of Australia’s proposed legislation that would permit individuals to disable algorithms on social media.

[The Parliamentary Secretary, Cabinet Office, and Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (Baroness Twycross) (Lab)]

My Lords, Australia’s draft legislation was published only on Monday. The Government have therefore not made a full assessment, but as I am sure my noble friend would expect, we are following developments closely. The UK’s Online Safety Act already requires platforms to address algorithmic risks, including the promotion of illegal content and content harmful to children. Building on that, we have announced measures to switch personalised recommendation algorithms off by default for 16 and 17 year-olds. We also committed earlier this year to giving users greater control over their feeds, including through algorithmic reset.

[Baroness Berger (Lab)]

My Lords, there is now a clear international shift towards giving users a genuine choice over their algorithmic feeds on social media. The recent Meta settlement and connected structural remedies in the United States, Australia’s proposed legislation that came out this week and the EU’s Digital Services Act, under which this option has already been live for three years, all reflect a growing consensus. Yet our Online Safety Act currently stops short. It does not give any adult or child the ability to turn off their algorithm. I listened very closely to my noble friend’s response, but I ask what more steps the Government are considering in order for us to catch up.

[Baroness Twycross (Lab)]

The Government completely agree with my noble friend that users should have greater control over their online experiences. We have committed to taking steps for 16 and 17 year-olds that go further than Australia’s proposal and Meta’s commitments by switching off teenagers’ personalised feeds by default. Services will also have to use highly effective age assurance to enforce this. The Online Safety Act’s user-empowerment duties will come into force next year and will allow users of the largest platforms to control what content they see in their feeds. Ofcom is currently consulting on this measure. In addition, we committed earlier this year to building on these duties to give users greater control over their algorithms.