Social media users could opt out of the algorithm if Australian government has its way – but that’s a big if

Social media could become a “choose your own adventure” between the doom-scrolling status quo, or just the feed of the friends you want to see, if the government’s planned digital duty of care legislation passes, and the tech companies don’t muck around on compliance.But that’s a big if.For years people have complained about the random videos or posts cluttering their social media feeds as served to them by the tech giants.It often feels invasive – tracking our activity across websites and apps to serve content and ads – but in many cases, it is also toxic.Guardian Australia was first reporting these issues back in 2024, conducting experiments with blank phones set up to be young men, with very little other information to go on and to see what the algorithms pushed into our feeds.The results were shocking – how the default would quickly send someone down a rabbit hole of extreme misogynistic and far right content, and just how sensitive the algorithm is to any minor interaction on an image or video.Many of the perceived problems teens face on social media are also problems facing adults. While the social media ban was designed to combat the harms faced by under-16s, many of us know relatives who have been radicalised reading Facebook comments, or grandparents scammed out of their retirement money by fake investments they saw on social media.Outrage bait is rewarded by engagement on platforms, and this has infected politics and public discourse in Australia and elsewhere.The move, announced by the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, on Tuesday to have a pop-up notification proactively require users to decide whether they want the platform to decide what they see or just want to see the content of the people and groups they’ve chosen to follow – similar to how many of the platforms worked in the early 2010s – could be game-changing.When Apple introduced a notification in iOS in 2021 that allowed people to opt in or opt out of ad tracking in apps, it cost Meta $10bn in one quarter, with users rushing to opt out of tracking on Facebook and Instagram.Compare that to when Instagram chief executive, Adam Mosseri, was on the stand in the landmark US court case last month just before Meta agreed to a $18bn settlement with state attorneys general.One of the company’s safety features for teens, called Take a Break, which was designed to let teens stop using Instagram if they had been scrolling for a while, had a take up rate of 1.8%, the court heard.The companies love to tout their safety features, but then often bury them within the settings, with little notice to users, and then suggest to regulators that the low take up shows people love their product as is.The companies may also find ways to make it as clunky an experience as possible when people opt out, to drive them back to the preferred model, depending on how the law is written.Just look at Europe, where Meta introduced the option for a no-algorithm feed in 2023 to comply with EU law, but by 2025 Meta was ordered by a Dutch court ordered the company to comply with the law and provide a direct and simple way for people to opt out of the timeline.The court found people were automatically reverted to the Meta algorithm when they closed and reopened the app. Meta continued to argue it was already in compliance with EU law.Instagram is also expected to sell the benefits hard. It will launch its “Algo Confessions” series in Australia this week, in which celebrities and influencers run through their “For You” feeds, and why what Instagram recommends to people is just so good.They may find a sympathetic ear among organisations that have benefited from algorithms that reward outrage content with user engagement. It was telling the prime minister pointedly thanked News Corp for its support for the social media ban in Tuesday’s press conference.It’s not clear whether the “my feed, my way” proposal will enjoy similar levels of full-throated support in the newspapers as the social media youth ban had, particularly as it seems likely that other parts of the proposed law around combatting online harms will face opposition from the Coalition and One Nation.But by framing it as “empowering people” Albanese is hoping it won’t be seen as the big arm of government coming in and determining what people see on social media. Through the pop-up notification every Australian will have a choice.“If people want to doom scroll… that’s fine, that’s up to them,” Albanese said on Tuesday. “But if people want to have a change, then this will provide them an opportunity.”