Platforms Seek Clarity on Digital Duty-of-Care Bill

TikTok, Meta, YouTube and Snap have urged Australian lawmakers to clarify the proposed digital duty-of-care legislation.

Updated on Nov. 9, 2026 in Internet

Platforms Seek Clarity on Digital Duty-of-Care Bill

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Should social media platforms be legally required to proactively prevent online harm to users?

TikTok, Meta, YouTube and Snap urged Australian lawmakers on Monday to clarify the proposed digital duty-of-care, which would require platforms to proactively identify and mitigate risks of online harm to Australians. Small businesses also sought an explicit exemption for low-risk services.

Why it matters

Platforms warned that vague harm categories and broad obligations could create compliance uncertainty and encourage the removal of lawful content. The concerns come as eSafety has identified gaps in the enforcement framework and recommended clearer definitions.

The submissions are formal platform and regulator positions rather than measured statistics, and no figures on affected services or users were provided. The final scope of the obligations has not been settled.

The players

TikTok

A short-video platform owned by ByteDance that is among the services subject to the proposed duty-of-care obligations.

The details

The privacy watchdog and Google raised concerns about additional data collection, age checks and safeguards for email and file storage. Platforms argued that the bill's broad obligations and vague harm categories need tightening before the legislation takes effect.

9 November 2026: Platforms submitted their call for lawmakers to clarify the duty-of-care bill.

Big Picture

The proposed duty-of-care extends Australia's Online Safety Act 2021 by requiring platforms to act before harm occurs rather than only responding to complaints. Eswafety's identified enforcement gaps suggest the new obligations will be tested against the regulator's existing powers.

If the duty-of-care bill passes in its current form, Australians using these platforms could see changes to how content is moderated and how their age and data are checked. Clearer definitions would determine how much lawful content is affected.

The takeaway

Users should expect that platform rules may change as the bill's definitions are settled, so it is worth checking the terms of the services they use once the final legislation is published.