{"id":78360,"date":"2026-08-23T09:00:15","date_gmt":"2026-08-23T09:00:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/78360\/"},"modified":"2026-08-23T09:00:15","modified_gmt":"2026-08-23T09:00:15","slug":"coalition-backs-calls-for-meta-to-publish-algorithm-citing-online-harms","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/78360\/","title":{"rendered":"Coalition backs calls for Meta to publish algorithm, citing online harms"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Coalition has backed calls for Meta to publish its social media algorithms in a bid to force the tech giant to be more transparent with users about how it controls the content that they see. <\/p>\n

X Corp, formerly Twitter, is currently the only social media giant that has published a major algorithm as open-source code, specifically for its \u201cFor You\u201d recommendation system, while periodically providing code updates. <\/p>\n

But an ongoing Senate inquiry \u2013 probing the government\u2019s bolstered social media laws \u2013 had also heard \u201ccompelling evidence\u201d for Meta to do the same, Liberal frontbencher Sarah Henderson told News24. <\/p>\n

Senator Henderson argued on Sunday the federal government needed to take stronger action on the \u201cdreaded algorithm, including publishing it\u201d because of its ability to \u201cdrive harm\u201d.<\/p>\n

Making the code public would \u201cshow how choices work\u201d online given the algorithm \u201cdrives\u201d the content you watch online, she said. <\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s certain rules that apply when you\u2019re actually online \u2026 (but) there\u2019s no transparency in relation to the algorithm from Meta, and other platforms,\u201d Senator Henderson said. <\/p>\n

\u201cAnd of course, many parents just want to turn the algorithm off. They want Facebook (to be) the way it used to be, where they could just see content from their friends. <\/p>\n

\u201cSo I think a lot of hard work needs to be done in that respect to give young people and all Australians greater choice as to what they see online.\u201d<\/p>\n

Senator Henderson\u2019s comments come as Meta fights a landmark federal battle against a coalition of US states alleging that Facebook and Instagram have been designed in ways that harm the mental health of young users. <\/p>\n

Meta denies the allegations and has been contacted for comment. <\/p>\n

The Senate Environment and Communications Legislation Committee \u2013 tasked with scrutinising Labor\u2019s Online Safety Amendment (Strengthening Enforcement for the Social Media Minimum Age) Bill 2026 \u2013 is set to hand down its report on Tuesday. <\/p>\n

The proposed changes would empower the eSafety Commissioner to compel documents from tech platforms to prove they are making reasonable efforts to stop under-16s from creating or accessing accounts.<\/p>\n

It would also double the fine for noncompliance to $99m. <\/p>\n

A raft of the world\u2019s most popular social media platforms \u2013 including Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat and YouTube \u2013 have been banned for under 16s in Australia since December 10.<\/p>\n

The laws followed a sustained lobbying effort by News Corp Australia and its Let Them Be Kids campaign.<\/p>\n

University of Newcastle research found about 85 per cent of teenagers were still using social media three months into the ban.<\/p>\n

More than half of these were using their own accounts.<\/p>\n

The survey comprised 408 teenagers between 12 to 17 years old.<\/p>\n

Read related topics:Facebook<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Coalition has backed calls for Meta to publish its social media algorithms in a bid to force…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":78361,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[41536,119089,119082,119107,119104,119099,119077,39152,43818,119072,50039,38151,119106,67034,119105,74002,119116,45084,119090,22,23,7458,21,119102,101222,35614,36917,119111,53281,4919,119083,31752,119088,36754,2601,119115,107148,37309,39524,5518,119100,56145,119080,93951,119081,156,21552,119108,119085,154,119113,39725,65099,2054,119078,89398,119114,119092,119103,119093,38756,119109,119074,106,119101,19024,119079,88792,19816,78127,6329,119094,119098,73230,38764,119091,10264,119073,44323,119084,14897,119110,23380,99430,119087,44979,39833,119076,119086,119097,88827,36698,37120,51842,119075,53762,5521,36985,11704,29123,119095,60712,39318,119096,4382,119112],"class_list":["post-78360","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-s-comments","tag-s-online-safety-amendment","tag-compelling-evidence","tag-recommendation-system","tag-99m","tag-12-to-17-years","tag-408-teenagers","tag-a-bid","tag-a-coalition","tag-a-landmark-federal-battle","tag-a-liberal-frontbencher","tag-a-lot","tag-a-major-algorithm","tag-a-raft","tag-a-sustained-lobbying-effort","tag-about-85","tag-accounts-it","tag-all-australians","tag-an-ongoing-senate-inquiry","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australians","tag-austrlia","tag-big-step","tag-bill-2026","tag-calls","tag-cent","tag-certain-rules","tag-choices","tag-coalition","tag-code-updates","tag-comment","tag-december-10-the","tag-documents","tag-facebook","tag-facebook-and-instagram","tag-greater-choice","tag-hard-work","tag-harm","tag-instagram","tag-instagram-algorithms","tag-its-ability","tag-its-let-them-be-kids-campaign-university","tag-its-report","tag-its-social-media-algorithms","tag-labor","tag-laws","tag-liberal-frontbencher-sarah-henderson","tag-many-parents","tag-meta","tag-newcastle-research","tag-news-corp-australia","tag-news24","tag-newswire-politics","tag-no-transparency","tag-noncompliance","tag-online-harm-risk","tag-open-source-code","tag-other-platforms","tag-reasonable-efforts","tag-relation","tag-senator-henderson","tag-snapchat-and-youtube","tag-social-media","tag-social-media-laws","tag-social-media-platforms","tag-strengthening-enforcement","tag-stronger-action","tag-sunday","tag-tech-platforms","tag-teenagers","tag-that-respect","tag-the-dreaded-algorithm","tag-the-algorithm","tag-the-allegations","tag-the-ban-more-than","tag-the-coalition","tag-the-code-public","tag-the-content","tag-the-esafety-commissioner","tag-the-federal-government","tag-the-fine","tag-the-government","tag-the-mental-health","tag-the-only-social-media-giant","tag-the-proposed-changes","tag-the-same","tag-the-secret-algorithms","tag-the-senate-environment-and-communications-legislation-committee","tag-the-social-media-minimum-age","tag-the-tech-giant","tag-the-way","tag-the-world","tag-their-friends","tag-their-own-accounts-the-survey","tag-three-months","tag-tiktok","tag-tuesday","tag-twitter","tag-under-16s","tag-us-states","tag-users","tag-ways","tag-x-corp","tag-young-people","tag-young-users"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78360","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=78360"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78360\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/78361"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=78360"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=78360"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=78360"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}