US criticises Australia's algorithm opt-out plan as 'censorship'

The United States has criticised Australia's plan to let users switch off social media algorithms, describing the proposal in a formal submission as "censorship of protected speech".

A rare submission from the US embassy

Australia's draft digital duty of care laws would require technology companies to give users the option to turn off algorithmic feeds, with hefty fines for firms that fail. The government says the measure is designed to protect people from harmful content.

In a rare submission on the proposed rules, the US embassy in Canberra said it had "serious concerns", warning that allowing authorities to "enforce vague definitions of 'harm'" would lead to "viewpoint-based censorship". The submission asked Australia to clarify how "harm" and "risks" would be determined, "ensuring these definitions do not encroach on protected speech".

Warnings over reach and innovation

Washington argued the laws could "reduce the reach of independent journalists or other voices whose content touches on sensitive or controversial topics" if platforms were required to "pre-emptively demote" such material. It added that an opt-out option would "allow regulators to impose rigid, one-size-fits-all platform design requirements" on tech firms.

The submission said those effects would not stay inside Australia: "Mandated platform design features, especially when applied to algorithms, may affect what users see, say, and hear not just in or from Australia, but globally." It also urged Canberra to address industry concerns that the "biases and preferences" of government officials might "disadvantage independent or minority-viewpoint speech", and said the rules could damage the country's "reputation as a jurisdiction that enables innovation".

Albanese: giving people back control

The criticism came during Prime Minister Anthony Albanese's visit to the United States, where he is speaking at the UN General Assembly about his government's technology policies. Speaking to media in New York on Tuesday local time, he rejected claims of government overreach: "It's not about giving government control. It's about giving people back control over what they receive on their devices."

US President Donald Trump used his own UN address to play down fears about artificial intelligence, rejecting proposals for guardrails and arguing the field should be renamed "super intelligence" because "the use of the word artificial makes it sound fake".

The clash comes less than a year after Australia introduced a social media ban for children under 16 in December.