Controlling Your Feed: Australia’s Next Online Safety Challenge

Amrita Chahal | Cyber, Tech and Space Fellow

Image sourced from Camilo Jimenez via Unsplash

When Australia unveiled its world-first social media age restrictions, it garnered widespread attention from the international community. As of 10 December 2025, Australia mandated social media platforms take reasonable steps to prevent children under the age of 16 from creating or keeping an account. While the legislation has received some criticism, it also signalled something bigger: an unprecedented appetite to regulate online spaces to keep young people safe. As we cast our sights forward, the focus cannot only be on who gets access, but equally on what they have access to. With growing concerns over social media algorithms, the echo-chambers they create, and how they shape the psyche and physical world of young Australians, recommender algorithms are increasingly becoming the next frontiers in online safety regulation. 

The Online Space Today

In 2024, the number of active social media users worldwide surpassed 5 billion. Research suggests that almost a third of these users are adolescents and young adults. One report by Mission Australia found that 97 per cent of people aged 15-19 used social media daily. By almost all accounts, the digital world has become intrinsically linked to the way young people access information and build relationships.

Social media feeds are in-part controlled by recommender algorithms. These are “the invisible systems that decide what we see online”. Fed by data such as the user’s preferences, age, likes, and demographics, algorithms predict and recommend content the user is most likely to engage with. However, as raised by the Joint Select Committee on Social Media and Australian Society (2024), “one of the issues with algorithms that are designed for engagement rather than safety is that…negative content gets more engagement than positive”. As a result, algorithms may peddle harmful content, including unsafe diet strategies, misogynistic content, and deepfake videos, contributing to the rise and normalisation of this content in both the online and real world. The Office of the eSafety Commissioner reports that large volumes of this content being recommended to young people may cause “cumulative effects” that can create deeper and more lasting harm than any one individual post.

The Call for Stricter Laws

Under the current Australian framework, the Basic Online Safety Expectations outlines platforms must “take reasonable steps to make sure those systems are safe and not used to promote illegal or harmful content and activity”. However, what constitutes “reasonable steps” is vague, and, in many cases, there is a lack of guidance on what this looks like in practice for both platforms and users. For example, despite these mechanisms, 73 per cent of Gen Z social media users report having witnessed misogynistic content online. Less than half reported feeling that social media is a “safe space”. 

As a result, calls for stronger regulations surrounding algorithmic recommendations have grown over the last few years. For example, a campaign titled Fix Our Feeds has gained almost 12,000 signatures, focusing on the impact of misogynistic spaces online on young men and boys seeking community. While these numbers reveal widespread concern, they also potentially expose another opportunity for Australia to introduce world-first safety measures in the online space. 

Concerns Moving Forward

Regulating social media algorithms poses unique and complex challenges. The Joint Select Committee on Social Media and Australian Society (2024) outlined that the transparency of how algorithms work is one of the “central concerns” around the operation of social media. While social media companies may vehemently guard these inner workings, the Joint Committee outlined that the key to understanding how platforms use algorithms - and in turn to effectively regulate them to ensure online safety - is to require access to technical operational data through legislation that “[mandates] regular routine transparency reports”, similar to the EU's Digital Services Act.

Secondly, there is the open issue surrounding free speech - what should algorithms censor, and what should they let slide? Questions have been raised on the ability of automated systems to understand and enact this nuance. For example, targeting content that references sensitive topics like self-harm, substance abuse, and eating disorders, must strike a complex balance between limiting harmful content on the one hand, but not inadvertently removing self-help resources and support groups on the same topics. Similar legislation proposed in California has indeed attracted criticisms for platforms removing large quantities of content protected under freedom of speech legislation. This issue is almost unsurprising, considering the difficulties faced by human moderators, let alone coding this nuance into algorithmic models to discern.

Overall, social media recommender algorithms are emerging as a new frontier in online safety regulation, raising questions on how they function and, in turn, how they should be regulated. Although guidelines such as Safety by Design exist, their lack of enforceability make their practical implications seem difficult to assess. As Australia continues to prioritise the safety of users in regulating online spaces, the challenge is no longer simply deciding who gets access, but rather what they are exposed to once they are there.

Amrita Chahal is a recent graduate of the University of New South Wales, where she completed a Bachelor of Laws and Bachelor of Media (Communications and Journalism) with Distinction. She holds a Certificate in Transnational Law from the University of Geneva, strengthening her understanding of Australia’s role in international affairs.

Amrita has professional experience in law, public policy and international engagement. Serving in the U.S. Consulate General Youth Advisory Council, she advises the Consul General on issues affecting the U.S.-Australia partnership. Her work in public policy includes developing policy briefs for state and federal governments, with a focus on internet safety and digital governance.

Additionally, Amrita has worked in refugee law, youth justice and human rights, shaping her interest in considering regulatory frameworks and international relations through a humanitarian lens. She is particularly interested in exploring how Australia can support the responsible global governance of emerging technologies.

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of Young Australians in International Affairs. AI tools were used by this author for grammar checks, but all content is original, and no plagiarism has been used in the preparation of this article.