The Australian government is pushing to give all social media users the option to opt-out of algorithms, which could have huge implications for marketers relying on the channel.
The Australian government is proposing reforms to social media law, which would effectively force platforms to give users an algorithm opt-out.
This would return user’s feeds back to friends and family posts, ending the infinite scroll and returning to the, ‘you’re all caught up’ message.
Following the mixed success of the country’s social media ban for under 16s, lawmakers are looking to continue forward with reforms to bring more control to users in efforts to curb the growing addiction to these platforms.
Users would be able to opt-in to default feeds, including personalised content recommended by an algorithm – or they can choose to exclusively see content of those they follow.
“This is a sensible, pragmatic, practical reform,” Prime Minister Anthony Albanese told reporters. “It gives users choice and it will hold the big tech companies responsible for inaction if they don’t follow our laws.”
The reforms mirror the EU’s Digital Services Act, which enforces an opt-out for profiling – although regulators have asserted that platforms did not make the opt-out process simple enough for users.
The current plan, dubbed “my feed, my way”, will see a AUD$100m (roughly £53m) fine for any social media platform that doesn’t comply with the proposed changes.
While the legislation has only just been proposed, if it gets approved, this could have huge implications on how marketers use social media – especially if organic and sponsored content only appears on the feeds of people for actively follow brand pages or influencers.
Affiliate marketers in particular will need to keep a close eye on how this progresses given that social media is a primary channel for them to reach and engage with their audience.
Communications minister, Anika Wells, argued that tech platforms had been testing an unregulated product on Australian users for too long, and said there was a “global reckoning for big tech”.
This year has seen social media platforms come under regulatory scrutiny at a global level. Many countries are introducing social media bans for under-18s and tech giants like Meta and Snap face legal action over the alleged addictive design of their respective platforms. Meta recently agreed to settle a social media addiction case in the US for $16bn.
