Digital Duty of Care: Make Tech Care

Australia’s opportunity to implement a duty to make tech care

TPDi’s Digital Duty of Care – Make Tech Care Policy Spotlight examines one of the most consequential reforms to be considered by the Australian Parliament this year. These design choices will shape Australians’ online world.

This Spotlight synthesises insights from TPDi’s multi-stakeholder Design Dialogue hosted on 10 August 2026 at Parliament House.

Read the Spotlight to explore the common ground and 7 recommendations for policymakers as the duty moves from concept to legislation.

DOWNLOAD THE POLICY SPOTLIGHT

Getting the design right

Online harms are not inevitable consequences of technological progress.

Legislation to introduce a digital duty of care is a rare opportunity for Australia to reshape the online environment and its impact on our lives. Technology has immense positive benefits but realising them requires proactive policy design.

This is Australia’s opportunity to implement a duty to make tech care.

A digital duty of care will obligate online services to keep their users safe, prevent serious harms before they occur, and anticipate the next generation of harms on the horizon.

The concept is simple, but the design choices are not.

Good tech policy requires more than good intentions. That is why we convened a TPDi Design Dialogue on the Digital Duty of Care. We brought together leaders from across Parliament, government, industry, civil society and research to move the conversation forward. Collective knowledge and diverse perspectives produce stronger policy.

Drawing on dialogue discussions, this Policy Spotlight details areas of common ground and areas of divergence, highlighting the key legislative choices that will shape the design of the Duty.

The report also sets out 7 recommendations for policymakers as the legislation is designed, introduced and debated in Parliament.

Our Recommendations Summarised

1. Implement an overarching Duty

Parliament should implement an overarching Duty of Care that obligates digital services to take reasonable steps to prevent foreseeable serious harm. 

5. Incentivise services to compete on safety

The duty presents an opportunity to make safety investments commercially attractive – rewarding companies that innovate and compete on the quality of their protections.

2. Extend that Duty for all Australians

All Australians deserve a safe online environment, regardless of their age, and the Duty of Care’s scope should reflect that.

6. Protect public-interest research into platform harms

The Duty should provide legal protections for legitimate public-interest research into online platforms, expanding on those provided by the EU Digital Services Act by vetted researchers.

3. Address service features, not just content

The Duty should address the systems, features and design choices that create or amplify harm, not just the content and conduct that is shared on a service.

7. Approach as cross-partisan national priority

As legislation is introduced, there will be important debates around scope, proportionality, accountability and oversight. But the focus should remain on identifying common ground and practical mechanisms for improving the safety of Australians in a rights respecting manner.

4. Enable enforcement

The impact of any Duty will ultimately depend on its enforcement. As Parliament determines the scope of the duty, it should also consider the regulator powers, funding, and structures required to supervise and enforce this next phase of regulation.

Find TPDi’s full recommendations in the Policy Spotlight, Digital Duty of Care: Make Tech Care

Design Dialogue

Good tech policy requires collective knowledge and diverse perspectives. On 10 August 2026, TPDi convened a Digital Duty of Care Design Dialogue at Parliament House to bring those perspectives together and inform the development of this Spotlight.

The consultation brought together 61 participants from 51 organisations and institutions across Parliament, government, industry, civil society, research and education. Participants included parliamentarians, regulators, rights advocates, multinational technology companies, Australian safety-tech businesses, researchers, youth representatives and international governments.

Held under the Chatham House Rule, the Dialogue moved from broad principles into the policy design choices that will shape an effective and implementable Digital Duty of Care. Discussion explored issues including reach and risk, lawful but harmful content, user autonomy and recommender systems, interactions with privacy and consumer law, regulatory oversight and independent researcher access.

The insights, areas of convergence and differing perspectives identified through the Dialogue have informed TPDi’s analysis and recommendations in this Tech Policy Spotlight.