Prime Minister Anthony Albanese defends planned social media reforms amid US backlashBy political reporter Erin HandleyTopic:Government and PoliticsPosted Wed 23 Sep 2026 at 10:16amWed 23 Sep 2026 at 10:16amWed 23 Sep 2026 at 10:16am, updated Wed 23 Sep 2026 at 11:44amWed 23 Sep 2026 at 11:44amWed 23 Sep 2026 at 11:44amAnthony Albanese takes a selfie with US President Donald Trump in New York. (Supplied: X)In short:The prime minister has said he will "always stand up for Australian interests" amid criticism from the US about the government's social media reforms.It comes as US President Donald Trump slapped down the idea of global AI safeguards and rebranded AI as "super intelligence".What's next?Regarding global safeguards on AI, Mr Albanese said he will "wait and see" the outcome of a meeting between Mr Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping.Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has pushed back against the Trump administration's "censorship" criticism of Australia's draft digital duty of care laws, as the US president rejected a push from Australia and other countries to impose artificial intelligence safeguards.Speaking at the United Nations General Assembly in New York, Mr Trump announced his government would officially rebrand artificial intelligence (AI) as "super intelligence" and underscored his strong opposition to regulating AI.Late yesterday, the US embassy made a rare submission on Australia's draft domestic laws, saying the reforms would amount to an "extraterritorial censorship of protected speech" and calling on Australia to exempt US social media companies from the legislation.In New York, Mr Albanese was asked if the Trump administration's comments undermined his fight against global tech giants on the world stage. "Not at all," he said."I'll always stand up for Australia's national interests, and the digital duty of care is something that we've foreshadowed for some period of time," he said, referring to the US embassy's intervention."It's not about government control, it's about giving people back control over what they receive on their devices."The draft legislation would require the tech giants to pre-emptively address harms and pave the way for giving users a choice to opt into or out of the algorithm.He stressed the government would "engage constructively" before finalising the legislation."I hope the whole of parliament supports it. This should not be a partisan issue," he said.Anthony Albanese has hit back at criticism of his proposed social media reforms.  (ABC News: Adam Kennedy)But Coalition frontbencher Andrew Bragg has echoed the US's censorship concerns."I think there is a risk of censorship. There is a risk of bestowing too much power onto unelected bureaucrats," he told ABC Radio National today.The opposition has previously said the proposed changes would give a "blank cheque for political censorship" and warned they posed a threat to free speech.Earlier, Mr Albanese spoke on the sidelines of the United Nations about protecting children in the age of AI.In his address, he defended the proposed changes, saying this was an "inevitable next stage" the government had to take to protect people online."With misinformation, disinformation, with the increased polarisation that we're seeing as well in the political system, people are moving away from the centre and more and more to the extremes, be they of the left or the right," he said."And that is why we think that this is a very positive move that we are [putting] forward."Trump dismisses calls for AI guardrailsOn the eve of the UN General Assembly, Australia was one of 22 countries to issue an urgent plea for global guardrails to keep AI "under human control".They warned "the pace of development [of AI] could outpace our ability to manage emerging risks" and efforts to ring-fence it were failing.The statement came in the weeks after a trio of tech leaders — Anthropic's Dario Amodei, OpenAI's Sam Altman and SpaceX's Elon Musk — all backed a slowdown in the pace of AI development.Xi Jinping and Donald Trump will meet later this week to discuss AI.  (Reuters: Evan Vucci)Mr Trump has previously described dire warnings about the safety of AI as a "hoax". The US and China are jostling for supremacy in the AI race.In an extraordinary speech at the UN, Mr Trump conceded there was a need to "be careful", but rejected a proposal to impose safety guardrails.The US "totally rejects any attempt to construct a globalist scheme to control the artificial intelligence being spoken of so much now," he said.Mr Albanese was asked if he was disappointed about Mr Trump's remarks, and he didn't directly respond to a question about whether Australia would be adopting the term "super intelligence"."We listened, and we participate respectfully," Mr Albanese said."We have put forward a strong position. I'm proud of what we have done on social media."He said he looked forward to meeting Mr Trump at a reception imminently and engaging with him there.Mr Albanese later posted a selfie of the catch-up, writing on social media: "Always good to catch up with @POTUS." Mr Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping are due to meet this week at the White House for a highly anticipated discussion about AI safety and governance."We'll wait and see what comes out of the meeting between President Trump and President Xi," Mr Albanese said."It's good that they're meeting and it's good that this is on the agenda."