Australia wants to let you switch off social media algorithms. On the surface, that sounds like a win. Who hasn't felt manipulated by a feed at some point?
But here's the problem: laws rarely stop where the press release says they will. The fine print points straight at universal age verification, which means uploading government ID to prove who you are before you can browse. That is not a safety feature, that is a surveillance pipeline waiting to be breached, abused, or quietly repurposed.
Then there's the censorship angle nobody wants to say out loud. If platforms can't rank content by relevance, someone still decides what shows up. Historically, that someone ends up being whoever holds power. A chronological feed sounds neutral until the only sources left shouting are the ones the government likes.
And let's be honest, Australia's last big idea, the under-16s ban, is already looking like a failure by the regulators' own measures. Doing more of the same thing but calling it choice is not progress.
Real choice means deciding for yourself what lands in your feed and keeping your identity out of it. This bill offers neither.
What do you reckon, would you trade algorithmic curation for a government-approved timeline?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tFxoeHrUgwo
#DigitalRights #Privacy #AgeVerification #Australia #Censorship #Decentralisation
But here's the problem: laws rarely stop where the press release says they will. The fine print points straight at universal age verification, which means uploading government ID to prove who you are before you can browse. That is not a safety feature, that is a surveillance pipeline waiting to be breached, abused, or quietly repurposed.
Then there's the censorship angle nobody wants to say out loud. If platforms can't rank content by relevance, someone still decides what shows up. Historically, that someone ends up being whoever holds power. A chronological feed sounds neutral until the only sources left shouting are the ones the government likes.
And let's be honest, Australia's last big idea, the under-16s ban, is already looking like a failure by the regulators' own measures. Doing more of the same thing but calling it choice is not progress.
Real choice means deciding for yourself what lands in your feed and keeping your identity out of it. This bill offers neither.
What do you reckon, would you trade algorithmic curation for a government-approved timeline?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tFxoeHrUgwo
#DigitalRights #Privacy #AgeVerification #Australia #Censorship #Decentralisation