Australian insurers are increasingly using unconventional data sources including web browsing activity, social media footprints and third-party analytics to calculate premiums, a practice that raises concerns about indirect discrimination and the re-identification of supposedly anonymised information, according to analysis in The Conversation.

Insurers have long been allowed to charge different prices based on risk assessments, within limits set by federal anti-discrimination law. However, three federal acts – covering age, disability and sex – exempt insurers from discrimination protections if they rely on "actuarial or statistical data on which it is reasonable to rely". The Human Rights Commission and Actuaries Institute warn this may not justify using data that is outdated, incomplete, based on small samples or not directly applicable to individual cases.

A 2024 Australian Competition and Consumer Commission report warned that even de-identified data could be re-identified when combined with other information, and that consumers may be targeted based on shared traits – a practice called "affinity profiling".