In a quiet but consequential diplomatic exchange, the United States has pushed back against Australia's effort to let ordinary people turn off the algorithms that shape their social media experience. The U.S. Embassy in Canberra has reframed what Australians call consumer protection as a form of censorship — a philosophical sleight of hand that reveals how deeply the question of who controls the digital commons has become entangled with questions of sovereignty, speech, and power. What looks like a technical policy dispute is, at its heart, a contest over whether democratic governments or priv