Australia’s “My Feed, My Way” proposal would give logged-in social-media users a following-only feed option alongside algorithm-personalized recommendations. The draft explicitly allows advertising in that following-only feed, including ads from accounts the user does not follow. It is not an ad-free-feed promise.
The communications department opened consultation on the proposed implementation rules on October 15, 2026. Submissions close at 11:59 p.m. AEDT on November 5. The consultation is an opportunity to comment on a draft, not evidence that a new government-mandated setting has already appeared in every app.
What would My Feed, My Way change?
The draft Online Safety (User Empowerment Tools) Determination 2026 describes two sources of feed material: algorithms based on user profiling, or accounts the user follows. Its definition of following includes subscribing or connecting to an account to receive its content automatically.
The advertising exception is in subsection 6(6). Following-only and ad-free are therefore different promises.
Would the choice stay selected?
The draft requires choices to persist unless users explicitly change them. Tools must remain accessible and easy to use, without discouraging their use or making navigation harder.
Is this available now—and is following-only chronological?
The department says the rule would be determined once the Digital Duty of Care Bill receives Royal Assent. The published instrument is marked as a draft. It is therefore not a reliable basis for telling readers that a new statutory switch is already live.
Following-only also describes whose material appears, not necessarily its order. The cited definition does not require a reverse-chronological list. That is a useful distinction for anyone searching for an “algorithm off” button: account selection, ordering and a persistent default are different controls.
Reuters covered the broader proposal on September 8. The current development is the October consultation on how the feed-choice rule would work.
What creators and users should watch next
For creators, a following-only option could make an existing follower relationship more important in that particular feed. That is an inference, not a forecast of lost reach: these documents do not quantify any creator’s traffic or earnings impact.
Readers can review the draft and submission instructions on the department’s consultation page before the November deadline. The policy is distinct from Australia’s age restrictions; our under-16 social-media rules guide covers that separate question.
Archival photo: Parliament House, Canberra, October 20, 2019; not a photograph of the current consultation. “Canberra (AU), Parliament House — 2019 — 1746” by Dietmar Rabich / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0. Resized for display by The Daily Vantage; no endorsement implied.
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