Instagram Chief Adam Mosseri and conservative commentator Michael Shellenberger have separately opposed aspects of the regulations.

Last month, the Australian government began preliminary investigations into potential new laws that would force social media platforms to provide users with an option to switch off algorithmic recommendations, and set nonalgorithmic feeds as the default. The end result would be that users who choose to opt out of algorithmic feeds would only see updates from people and profiles they’ve explicitly chosen to follow.

Australia’s Communications Minister Annika Wells said in a recent address to the National Press Club that algorithmic incentives don’t necessarily align with what’s good or healthy for users, meaning that engagement-focused algorithms will often amplify harmful content to keep people scrolling.

“Platforms aren't passive,” Wells said. “They decide what is amplified, what captures us, what behaviors get rewarded,” Wells said. “They have been optimized for engagement and for attachment, not for well-being. Because the longer we stay, the more valuable we are.”

Requiring platforms to provide an algorithm opt-out could limit over-exposure to potentially harmful content, and it could also prevent users from being inundated with material that doesn’t benefit them or their communities.

“If someone wants their feed filled with friends and creators they follow, the social media platform must give them that choice,” Wells said. “And if you're happy to stick with your algorithm, you can do that, too. While it's true some platforms offer these choices right now, they do their best to make them unappealing and difficult to use.

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