Australia Makes AI Emotional Manipulation Illegal: First-of-Its-Kind Chatbot Design Law Passes

Australia has passed child-safety legislation that targets emotional manipulation by AI chatbots and makes platforms liable for the design. The House of Representatives approved the Online Safety Amendment (Digital Duty of Care) Bill 2026 on October 28, 2026, with penalties up to A$109.2 million (about $73 million USD). The law introduces a product-safety violation aimed at engineering chatbots to foster emotional dependence in users under 18, rather than just removing harmful content after it appears. It also broadens a duty of care across digital services accessible in Australia and lets users opt out of algorithm-driven personalized feeds. The bill reduces cyberbullying response times from 48 to 24 hours and expands the eSafety Commissioner’s powers to remove “nudify” apps and websites.