By Noah Secomb and Andrew Brown in Canberra

Giving people the option to get rid of algorithmic social media feeds is not an attempt at political censorship, the prime minister says as he defends his latest round of reforms.

Labor has unveiled its digital duty of care reforms to enforce minimum standards on social media platforms and give users the ability to choose what they see on their online feeds.

The government has avoided calling the algorithm measures either an opt-in or opt-out, instead landing on a “neutral choice” down the middle.

Members of the opposition and One Nation have labelled the proposal as overreach, criticising parts of the draft laws that would give the communications minister power to determine what is classified as harmful content online.

But Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said opponents of those measures were being disingenuous.

“This isn’t about censorship. This isn’t about giving (Communications Minister) Anika Wells power. This is about giving (people) power,” he told Nine’s Today program on Wednesday.

“We’re hoping that there be constructive engagement on this. We want this to pass with the support of the whole parliament because it should, because this affects all Australians.”

Nationals leader Matt Canavan said while users needed to be protected online, decision making on what was classified as harmful content was unfair.

“They’re not impartial. This is like this bill is like putting Anthony Albanese in charge of refereeing a South Sydney Rabbitohs game, he wouldn’t be an impartial judge,” he told Nine’s Today.

“We should not allow this type of censorship to emerge in a free and open country.”

The prime minister rejected the concerns, saying parliament was still able to determine what would be classified as dangerous online and would have a veto over the minister.

“(It) will be up to the whole parliament, like the other previous laws have been,” he said.

The legislation is likely to face the scrutiny of an inquiry in coming months before the government seeks to pass it.

RMIT social media expert Caitlin McGrane said the government’s middle path on an algorithm risked pleasing no one and confusing everyone.

“Asking people to opt-out with a pop-up is an interesting approach,” she told AAP.

“There is an awful lot of research that has found that those pop-ups that ask you about cookies on websites, people find them very annoying, and they also don’t really work.

“They give this kind of illusion of control.”

Dr McGrane is still cautiously optimistic the legislation can be effective despite the lack of immediate detail.

However, she said the bill reinforces an underlying assumption that people are no longer affected by eating disorder or extreme misogyny content once they turn 18.

“And I just don’t know that that’s true,” she said, noting concern over the enforcement of two separate content standards.

“Without collecting vast amounts of personal data or using age assurance technologies that are still fairly unproven as to their efficacy, how are they going to be able to determine whether somebody is a child or an adult?”

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