Australia’s House passes the Digital Duty of Care bill, which brings AI chatbots under a safety duty for under-18s, including chatbots that simulate emotional intimacy
Partly confirmed
The takeaway
On Oct 28, 2026 Australia’s House of Representatives passed the Online Safety Amendment (Digital Duty of Care) Bill 2026.
Status
- Claim
Partly confirmed
- Our reporting
- Medium confidence
- Importance
- 3 of 5
- Last verified
- 28 October 2026
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Key facts
- Introduced by Communications Minister Anika Wells on Oct 15, 2026; passed the House on Oct 28 (TokenPost, Tech Insider citing The Guardian); needs Senate passage and royal assent
- Chatbot clause (Tech Insider, citing The Guardian): the government accepted independent MP Kate Chaney’s amendment on material or conduct that ‘simulates emotional intimacy’ and encourages a child’s dependence on it instead of human relationships. It is a safety obligation, not a blanket ban
- Maximum penalty A$109.2M; covered services must run risk assessments and build safety into product design; the duty takes effect 12 months after assent
- Senate: referred to the Environment and Communications Legislation Committee, report due Nov 20, 2026. The Coalition calls the bill ‘unsalvageable’; the Greens want compensation rights (Region Canberra)
- PM Anthony Albanese: stories of people calling a chatbot their best friend should be ‘a huge wake up call for every member of this Parliament’ (TokenPost)
- The Trump administration filed a formal submission opposing the bill, calling its algorithm rules extraterritorial (AI Weekly summary; the submission itself not read)
What happened
Australia’s lower house passed the Labor government’s Digital Duty of Care bill on Oct 28, 2026. It requires online services, explicitly including AI chatbots, to manage reasonably foreseeable risks and to protect under-18s from harmful material, conduct and design features. An amendment from independent MP Kate Chaney adds chatbots that simulate emotional intimacy and foster a child’s dependence. The Guardian’s headline calls it a ban; other summaries describe a duty-of-care obligation rather than an outright prohibition. The bill now goes to a Senate inquiry, where Labor needs the Greens or cross-benchers.
Why it matters
It would be one of the first national laws to address AI companions’ emotional pull on children directly, backed by penalties of more than A$100M. A 2026 survey cited in coverage found 8% of Australian 10–17-year-olds had used an AI companion.
Sources
6 sources from 6 sites. Numbers match the chips in the text.
6 sources: 1 primary, 5 press
Primary
- Parliament of Australia: Senate Environment and Communications Committee inquiry into the billaph.gov.au, official
Press
- The Guardian: ‘Emotional intimacy’ from AI chatbots would be banned under Australia’s digital duty of care laws (Oct 28; not fetchable here)theguardian.com, press
- TokenPost: Australia’s House passes bill extending safety duties to AI chatbotstokenpost.com, press
- Tech Insider: AI chatbot intimacy rule clears House (sources compared)tech-insider.org, press
- Region Canberra: Tweaked digital duty of care bill introduced to Parliament (Oct 15)region.com.au, press
- AI Weekly: US formally rebukes Australia’s digital duty-of-care billaiweekly.co, press
Changes
- Filed (news agent); The Guardian not fetchable, facts from TokenPost, Tech Insider and Region