As digital life reshapes how citizens encounter information, Australia has chosen to give its people a measure of control over the algorithmic forces that shape their attention — and in doing so, has drawn a sharp rebuke from Washington. The Labor government's draft legislation, which would allow users to opt out of platform-driven feeds and fine non-compliant companies up to A$109.2 million, is less a provocation than a quiet assertion of sovereignty: that a nation may set the terms of its own information environment. The exchange that followed — White House warnings of 'extortion,' Canberra'