Draft laws setting up a digital duty of care were introduced by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Tuesday.
As part of the measures, social media companies will need to provide tools for people to choose what they see in their online feeds, under a government initiative called My Feed, My Way.
Vasileios Stavropoulos, digital behaviour researcher from RMIT University, has warned that even if companies give Australian users the ability to opt-out of algorithmic social media, they still have no idea what they are agreeing to when they create an account.
"An opt‑out is not consent. Consent means understanding what you are agreeing to, and almost nobody can describe what these systems are actually selecting for," Dr Stavropoulos said.
"The more useful question is not whether the algorithm is switched on, but what it is optimising for, and for whom."
Dr Stavropoulos also cautioned against assuming chronological feeds, feeds composed solely of posts made by accounts a user chooses to follow, are automatically safer for teenagers.
"It is a different feed, not a neutral one, and we do not yet have the evidence to say who benefits and who does not," he said.
"A single switch treats every user as though they were the same person."
Dr Stavropoulos recommends social media companies plainly state what the feed is selecting for, and independent researchers should be able to verify what actually changes when someone opts in or out of the algorithm.
Instagram chief executive Adam Mosseri told reporters on Thursday that he did not believe the app was addictive in the clinical sense and said the company was already working to give users more control over their feeds.
Calling the proposed reforms "ham-fisted," opposition leader Angus Taylor argued that the legislation amounts to censorship.
"This isn't about giving government control," Mr Albanese said at a press conference on Tuesday.
"It's about giving people control. It's about putting choice back into the hands of Australians online."
Announcing the new laws, Mr Albanese was joined by advocates, including Emma Mason, whose 15-year-old daughter Tilly Rosewarne died by suicide in 2022 after being bullied online.
"This is a new era ... it's government support and we need that support," Ms Mason said.
Under the reforms, social media companies will be also required to protect people from harmful content, including promotion of eating disorders, misogynistic content, pornography or glorifying crime and face $100 million fines if they don't enact the duty of care.
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