Statement

Australia gets to choose its own feed

A statement from Brian Kay, founder of Present, on the United States Government's response to Australia's Digital Duty of Care consultation.

25 September 2026 · 7:30am AESTPort Macquarie, NSW

This week the US Government put in a formal submission asking Australia to tone down parts of the draft Digital Duty of Care, including the option for people to switch off the algorithm in their feed. It calls that a “one-size-fits-all” design mandate, and says the plans could lead to censorship.

I disagree, and I want to explain why.

My Feed, My Way is about choice. It lets people pick a feed of the accounts they follow, in order, or the one a company ranks for them. Nobody is forced to pick either, and companies can keep their algorithm. It doesn't change what anyone can say, only what each person chooses to see.

It could also make algorithmic feeds better. Once people can switch the algorithm off, it has to earn its place. Recommended feeds will need to be good enough that people choose to keep them, and that's better for everyone, including the people who stick with it.

The US submission has a section headed “Economic Concerns”, and says it wants to avoid anything that would “unduly burden American companies”. My reading is that they expect a lot of people would take the option and spend less time on those apps. If that's the worry, it seems to back up what the Australian Government is saying about recommendation feeds.

I find it strange, though not surprising, to see the US try to shape Australian policy like this. Australians get to decide the rules for services used here. I also think it's about more than Australia. People are getting tired of slop and endless content, and if this works here, other countries may follow, as some have with the under-16 rules.

It's worth being clear about which algorithm this is. Technically, anything that sorts posts is an algorithm. As I understand it, the draft law is aimed at the recommendation kind, which brings you posts from people you don't know based on what you engage with, to keep you on the app.

That's partly why I wanted to respond. I built Present here in Port Macquarie, with my mates helping to test it. It launched on the App Store this week, and it was designed without a recommendation algorithm from the start. Posts are sorted by when they were taken, and it's meant to show you what your mates are up to and then let you get back to your day. It already fits within the Duty of Care, because I want it to be good for the people on it, not because a law says it has to.

The big platforms serve a different purpose, and there's real joy in discovering new creators and seeing things spread around the world. Giving people the choice doesn't take that away.

My Feed, My Way is an important step towards making social media, and the online world more broadly, safer for everyone. It's about giving people a choice, not limiting what they can say.

Brian KayFounder, PresentPort Macquarie, NSW