Australia Introduces Digital Duty of Care Legislation to Parliament

Australia's Communications Minister introduced the Online Safety Amendment (Digital Duty of Care) Bill 2026 to parliament on October 15, 2026. The legislation amends the Online Safety Act and requires online service providers including social media platforms, websites, online games and messaging apps to take appropriate action to protect Australians from seriously harmful material and conduct. The bill specifically mandates protection of children from harmful material including bullying, content promoting disordered eating or dangerous stunts, and harmful algorithmic design features. The duty of care requires platforms to proactively identify and mitigate risks through ongoing assessments and transparent reporting, with penalties of up to 100 million Australian dollars for serious or systemic breaches.

Platform duty-of-care regulation establishes the principle that harm prevention is a design responsibility, not an enforcement afterthought. Guardii offers the operational layer that translates that principle into real-time protection. As a world-leading AI safety platform and Meta Business Partner, Guardii detects harmful patterns such as sustained targeting, escalation and coercion in children's direct-message conversations across platforms. Its anti-bullying, anti-grooming and athlete-abuse detection modules intercept contact at the point where harm is forming, before it reaches the child, reporting the shape and seriousness of the conversation rather than the content itself. By enabling platforms to meet their duty of care with targeted, privacy-conscious intervention, Guardii closes the gap between regulatory obligation and measurable child protection.