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Imagine opening Instagram or TikTok tomorrow and finding that your feed is no longer trying to work out what you want to see.
That could become a reality under proposed Australian social media reforms, which would give people the choice to opt out of algorithmically recommended content and instead just see posts from the accounts they have chosen to follow. The proposal is part of the federal government’s broader Digital Duty of Care reforms, which are designed to give Australians more control over their online experience, although the legislation is still being developed.
Instead of being shown videos from accounts you have never followed because you watched something similar last week, you would see more of the people, creators and communities you have deliberately chosen to follow.
The change would not simply sit inside our settings; it could alter what we see every time we open an app, how we discover content and how much control we have over what fills our screen. And the first reaction may not be excitement. It may be that social media suddenly feels a little boring.
The “For You” feed has been doing more than finding content
One of the biggest changes would be losing the feeling that there is always something new waiting for us. The personalised “For You” experience works because it removes almost all of the effort involved in discovering content. We do not need to know who to follow or where to look because the platform is constantly making suggestions on our behalf.
Take that away and social media becomes less effortless.
If you want more fashion content, you may need to find and follow fashion creators. If you want travel recommendations, you may need to search for travel accounts or join a community. If you discover someone whose content you genuinely enjoy, you would need to make the conscious decision to follow them rather than simply waiting for the algorithm to serve their next video.
There is value in having to decide what deserves our attention, a feed that is less aggressively personalised may also interrupt the doomscroll cycle. If every piece of content is not carefully selected to maximise the likelihood that we will watch the next one, the experience could become less compulsive, even if it is also less entertaining.
The endless scroll could lose some of its pull
Today’s feeds are exceptionally good at keeping us moving. One video becomes another, then another, with every interaction helping the platform make its next recommendation. Remove some of that personalisation and the experience could change considerably.
A feed may contain more posts from accounts we already follow and fewer unexpected recommendations designed to tempt us into another ten minutes of scrolling. It could feel less addictive because the platform is no longer constantly trying to predict what will keep us there.
That does not mean people will suddenly stop scrolling, but the experience could become less automatic. Reaching the end of the content we have actually chosen to follow may become easier, rather than being met with an endless supply of new material.
Discovery could become harder
Greater control comes with a genuine downside – we may discover less. Algorithms can introduce us to people, ideas and businesses we would never have searched for ourselves. They can take a creator with a small following and put their content in front of thousands of people, or introduce us to a community we did not know existed.
Without that system, feeds could become more repetitive and insular, while new creators and businesses could find it harder to reach people who do not already know them. That is a real trade-off, but it should not be an argument against giving users the choice.
Brands would have to earn their way into your feed
The shift would also change the relationship between users and brands. At present, a brand does not necessarily need to convince someone to follow it to reach them. An algorithm can put its content in front of a person based on their interests or behaviour. If users opt out, that opportunity becomes much harder to rely on.
Brands would need to give people a reason to actively choose them, rather than relying on a platform to deliver an impression. That could mean less trendjacking and fewer attempts to manufacture reach, with greater emphasis on creating content that offers genuine value. For users, that could mean fewer brands competing for attention and more content from the brands, creators and communities they have deliberately chosen.
A different kind of social media
Opting out will not create a perfect social media experience, there will be less discovery, feeds could become repetitive and platforms may feel more fragmented. But users could gain something increasingly rare online – a stronger sense that their feed actually belongs to them. The point is not to eliminate algorithms or pretend they offer no benefits. It is to give Australians a meaningful choice about whether a platform gets to decide what they see.
After years of feeds becoming increasingly personalised, predictive and difficult to leave, a social media experience that is a little less clever, a little less convenient and a little more under our control may be exactly what we need.
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