Overview
- The government released the draft bill on Tuesday, Sept. 8, opening targeted consultation and saying it will introduce the legislation to Parliament later this year.
- Under the proposal, platforms must notify new and existing users aged 16 or older and offer a clear choice between an algorithmic recommendation feed or a feed limited to accounts the user follows.
- The draft expands duties for digital services — including social apps, games and AI chatbots — to protect under‑18s from named harms such as content that promotes eating disorders, misogyny, pornography, glorifies crime, or causes serious mental distress.
- Enforcement measures give the eSafety regulator new powers and set maximum penalties at A$109.2 million to push platforms toward compliance, but experts warn that pop‑up defaults, weak age checks and deliberate product workarounds could blunt the law’s effect.
- The plan builds on Australia’s December 2025 under‑16 account ban and follows international moves and high‑profile U.S. settlements targeting addictive platform design, a development that could influence rules in other countries.