Yet another Hacker News

US criticises Australia's proposed algorithm opt-out laws as 'censorship'

13 points 1659447091 55 minutes ago 8 comments

techblueberry 47 minutes ago | parent

Well, we know which side the government is on then.

CommenterPerson 10 minutes ago | parent

"You're censoring our billionaires' freedom to addict your people, psychologically damage your children, promote climate skepticism, spread lies, motivate people to lynch others"

Serious violation!

Buttons840 9 minutes ago | parent

What is an "algorithm"? Showing the 20 most recent posts is an algorithm, but I doubt that's what they're targeting with the law.

I'm not just trying to find a technical gotcha here. I think it's worth identifying what exactly about an "algorithm" causes it to cross the line and become harmful.

When does an algorithm become harmful?

When it is designed and optimized to maximize the amount of time it engages the user?

What about an algorithm that was optimized the present the user with content they would find interesting? That doesn't sound so bad on the surface.

What about an algorithm that maximizes the amount of ads people see? Or the amount of money that the company makes?

aetherspawn 2 minutes ago | parent

Yes.

Most Australians dislike social media. We are underrepresented on it, and it shovels the US’s issues down our throat. The current algorithms mainly send us US political propaganda.

forestry 2 minutes ago | parent

It’s a good question, and it’s not well defined. I am hoping that it allows us to customise feeds more. If I have problems with body image, maybe don’t show me topless photos. When iterating on male avatars, ChatGPT incrementally increases muscular features without being prompted to do so.

h8top245 6 minutes ago | parent

Wonder if they'll ever stop to take a look in the mirror every once in a while

shermozle 4 minutes ago | parent

Country that is the reason that globally we can't have breasts on social media, even in completely non-sexual contexts, complains about "censorship" from a country that wants to avoid melting its childrens' brains.

strken 4 minutes ago | parent

From my cursory look at this last night, the US doesn't like that the definition of "harm" is so poorly defined. They either don't care about the broader concept of opting out of an algorithmic feed or aren't willing to criticise it.

I've been disappointed by the coverage because none of it has helped me understand the legal context behind why they don't like this one specific thing.