Australia proposes 'safe by design' duty for social media platforms
Australia's government has released a proposal requiring social media platforms to take reasonable steps to prevent foreseeable online harm through a "digital duty of care," shifting responsibility for safety from individuals to the platforms themselves.
Australia is positioning itself as a global leader in online safety regulation, and now the federal government is taking another step: proposing a "digital duty of care" that would legally require social media platforms to actively prevent foreseeable harms.
The newly released policy issues paper signals a shift in thinking about who bears responsibility for online safety. Rather than placing the burden on users alone, the proposal holds platforms accountable for building safety into their design and operations from the outset—a concept known as "safe by design."
Australia already holds the distinction of being home to the world's first dedicated online safety regulator, the eSafety Commissioner, and the first country to introduce enforceable industry codes requiring platforms to address harmful content at scale. This latest proposal would deepen that regulatory framework.
Who faces the greatest risk?
The push for stronger safeguards is grounded in data about who suffers most from online abuse. Research cited in the government proposal notes that one in two Australian adults have experienced online abuse in their lifetime. However, women and gender-diverse people face disproportionate harm, experiencing harassment, non-consensual image sharing, impersonation, stalking, and identity-based abuse at far higher rates than others.
Yet according to recent research involving 75 Australian women and gender-diverse social media users and 21 experts in platform safety, policy, and content moderation, these groups are rarely consulted when platforms design their safety features. That research offers concrete recommendations for what "safe by design" could mean in practice.
What users say they need
Users in the research identified three key areas where current safety features fall short:
Better abuse reporting. Online abuse often involves context that automated systems miss. A message that seems harmless in isolation may constitute a clear threat to someone who knows their abuser. Users called for clearer reporting processes that capture the full picture, smarter triage that prioritises urgent cases, and timely updates on what happens to their reports. The government's digital duty of care proposal aligns with this: it calls for accessible complaint mechanisms and responses within 24 hours for serious issues.
Preventing harmful content from spreading. Once intimate or sensitive content is shared without consent, it spreads rapidly. Users want technical measures like prompts that encourage pausing before sharing, features that prevent screenshots or downloads, and real-time alerts showing when and where their content is being accessed. The government proposal suggests platforms should prevent or detect and remove seriously harmful content such as image-based abuse.
Meaningful intervention. The research also pointed to the need for platforms to intervene in patterns of behaviour—not just individual posts—and to give users control over their own visibility and how algorithms rank content.
What happens next
The proposal represents Australia's broader regulatory philosophy: that platforms, not just individuals, should bear responsibility for preventing online harms. However, the research status is mixed, with confidence at 0.65. While The Conversation reporting corroborates the existence of the government proposal and the policy direction, sources diverge on some material details about how the framework will be implemented and what scope it will cover.
The framework is expected to be refined through consultation, and the government has indicated it will move toward formal legislation. How the "digital duty of care" translates into law—and whether it becomes a model for other jurisdictions—remains to be seen.