Australia seeks big tech support for internet safety, AI regulation

PM Anthony Albanese asks Apple boss Tim Cook to back Canberra’s online safety laws to ‘keep Australians safe’.

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese speaks during an official function to mark the start of Australia's social media reform in Sydney on December 10, 2025 [File: David Gray/AFP]

The Australian government is seeking support from global tech giants as it works to strengthen the country’s online safety laws and artificial intelligence (AI) regulations.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, who met Apple’s executive chairman Tim Cook at the tech company’s headquarters in Cupertino, California, on Saturday, said that “Australia can’t do it alone” when it came to protecting children from the dangers of the internet.

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“We spoke about what we’re doing to protect children from online harm and the work ahead,” Albanese wrote on social media.

“We’re putting stronger rules in place to keep Australians safe online,” he said. “And now, big tech companies like Apple are stepping up too.”

Albanese, who is also in the United States for the United Nations General Assembly, used his trip to call for stronger AI regulation after dire safety warnings from industry leaders.

Australia will introduce new standards for AI by the end of the year, he said.

In a video posted to his X account, Albanese said his Labor government is “making sure technology works for Australians”, and not the other way around.

In a post on X, Cook also said he shared with Albanese new “strong and intuitive controls to help keep kids safe online”.

New Australian legislation unveiled this month would place a “duty of care” requirement on the firms behind popular platforms, such as Facebook, TikTok and Instagram, and allow users to turn off their algorithms.

The draft laws will be introduced to parliament later this year after consultation with social media companies, industry bodies and civil society groups.

The opposition Liberal-National Coalition opposes the bill “in its current form”, according to a statement published on September 10, saying that it “contains inadequate safeguards for free speech and journalism, and leaves too much power in the hands of the Communications Minister”.

Australia implemented legislation barring children under 16 from social media platforms last year as part of a world-first crackdown designed to protect children from online bullying and “predatory algorithms”.

However, data last month found that Australians under 16 continued using social media apps such as Instagram and TikTok despite the ban.

澳大利亚总理安东尼·阿尔巴尼斯要求苹果公司首席执行官蒂姆·库克支持堪培拉的网络安全法律，以“保障澳大利亚人的安全”。

2025年12月10日，澳大利亚总理安东尼·阿尔巴尼斯在悉尼出席澳大利亚社交媒体改革启动仪式并发表讲话。[图片：David Gray/AFP]

澳大利亚政府正在寻求全球科技巨头的支持，以加强该国的网络安全法律和人工智能（AI）监管。

澳大利亚总理安东尼·阿尔巴尼斯周六在加利福尼亚州库比蒂诺的苹果公司总部会见了苹果公司执行董事长蒂姆·库克，他表示，在保护儿童免受互联网危险方面，“澳大利亚不能单打独斗”。

澳大利亚将对大型科技公司处以双倍罚款，以应对儿童绕过社交媒体禁令的局面（列表1/3）。

研究显示，澳大利亚16岁以下青少年社交媒体禁令失败（共3项，此为第2项）：这意味着什么

澳大利亚拟议的“选择退出”法案针对大型科技公司的算法（共3项，此为第3项）。

“我们讨论了我们正在采取哪些措施来保护儿童免受网络伤害，以及未来的工作方向，”阿尔巴内塞在社交媒体上写道。

他说：“我们正在制定更严格的规则来保障澳大利亚人的上网安全。现在，像苹果这样的大型科技公司也在积极行动起来。”

阿尔巴尼斯目前也在美国参加联合国大会，他利用此次访问呼吁加强人工智能监管，此前业界领袖发出了严峻的安全警告。

他表示，澳大利亚将在年底前推出新的人工智能标准。

阿尔巴尼斯在他的X账号上发布的一段视频中表示，他的工党政府正在“确保科技为澳大利亚人服务”，而不是反过来。

库克在 X 上发帖称，他还与阿尔巴内塞分享了新的“强大而直观的控制功能，以帮助保护儿童上网安全”。

本月公布的澳大利亚新立法将对Facebook、TikTok和Instagram等热门平台背后的公司提出“注意义务”要求，并允许用户关闭其算法。

在与社交媒体公司、行业机构和民间社会团体协商后，这些法律草案将于今年晚些时候提交议会。

反对党自由国家联盟在9月10日发表的一份声明中表示，他们反对该法案“目前的版本”，称其“对言论自由和新闻自由的保障措施不足，并将过多的权力赋予了通信部长”。

去年，澳大利亚实施了一项法律，禁止 16 岁以下儿童使用社交媒体平台，这是全球首例旨在保护儿童免受网络欺凌和“掠夺性算法”侵害的打击行动。

然而，上个月的数据显示，尽管有禁令，16 岁以下的澳大利亚人仍然继续使用 Instagram 和 TikTok 等社交媒体应用程序。