Australia’s Coming Censorship Machine
16th October 2026
In Australia, a policy debate has broken out following the federal government’s release of its long-promised internet regulation, the digital duty of care. The stakes may be nothing less than the future of freedom on the internet.
The proposed law, an amendment to the existing Online Safety Act 2021, would impose a broad obligation on almost all online services to protect all users, not just children, from harmful content and features, and to manage “reasonably foreseeable risks.”
The government has presented its motivations as being consumer choice and safety. At a press conference launching a draft of the proposed law, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese declared the digital duty of care a “sensible, pragmatic, practical reform” that “is not about giving government control [but] about giving people control.” Communications Minister Anika Wells likened the measure to other kinds of consumer protections: “The same way that we have safety standards for cars, for food, for appliances, Australia is setting basic standards for the online tools and online services within our digital duty of care.”
Thank God for the First Amendment.
Don’t go to Australia.