Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has rejected US claims that proposed social media rules could amount to censorship, insisting the legislation is designed to give users greater control over what appears on their devices.
The US embassy in Canberra said it had “serious concerns” about the draft laws, which would impose a legal “duty of care” on major social media platforms.
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Responding to the criticism during a news conference in New York, Mr Albanese said he would “always stand up for Australia’s national interest”.
“It’s not about giving government control, it’s about giving people back control over what they receive on their devices,” Mr Albanese said.
The proposed rules would expose social media companies to fines of up to Aus$109 million (€67.7m) if they failed to shield young users from harmful material.
Platforms would be required to protect people under 18 from pornography, online bullying, material glorifying crime and content that promotes eating disorders.
The legislation would also give users the option to “opt out” of the powerful algorithms used to decide which posts and videos appear in their feeds.
Read more:Australia teen social media ban has little impact – study
Australia’s parliament is expected to consider the draft laws later this year, following consultations with technology companies, industry groups and civil society organisations.
In its statement, the US embassy warned that the proposals could “allow regulators to impose rigid, one-size-fits-all platform design requirements”.
“A framework that empowers governments to enforce vague definitions of ‘harm’ risks becoming a mechanism for viewpoint-based censorship,” it said.
The embassy also argued that the measures would fall mainly on companies headquartered in the United States, reiterating its “opposition to foreign measures that result in extraterritorial censorship of protected speech by Americans online”.
Australia introduced legislation in December barring children from social media platforms, launching a world-first crackdown intended to protect young people from online bullying and “predatory algorithms”.
The UK, France and other countries have since taken similar steps.
But data released last month showed that Australian children under 16 were using apps including Instagram and TikTok more frequently despite the ban.
