Thread

1. nomilk · 1790133002 · focus · HN ↗

   As is common in political shenanigans, the draft bill has a euphemistic label ('algorithmic opt-out') - what it actually does is allow unspecified bureaucrats such as the Minister for Communications to designate any individual piece of content as 'harmful' and have it banished from the internet.

   As an Australian who just wants relatively free access to information (and the ability to freely/easily discuss it), it's frustrating.

   And it's not the first time the Australian government has done this; last year they banned U16 from social media, several weeks later everyone was alerted to Bondi by... social media.. so they could get the heck out of there, but U16... they were left clueless and unable to get updates (news sites ran 30+ minutes behind real-time events and official sites like NSW Police took 70+ minutes to even announce there was a shooter).

   1. dbetteridge · 1790138539 · focus · HN ↗

      Two options from what I could see.

      You can entirely opt out of algorithmic feed and just see an unfiltered list of your connections posts.

      Or if you choose the algorithmic option, there's some ability for the ministers to request content be removed.

      Could it be abused to remove content they don't like? Of course

      Is it a marked improvement on Meta/Tiktok getting carte Blanche to select what people see? I think so.

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