New laws are expected to be submitted to Federal Parliament next week, banning children under 16 from accessing social media.

Many questions remain unanswered about how the ban will work and how it will be enforced – another question is which platforms will be subject to the ban.

While certain big names – like Instagram, TikTok and X – are clearly likely to be caught up, others will be totally or partially exempt.

This could be because they are considered a “messaging service” rather than a social media platform.

Or maybe it’s because they’ve developed an “age-appropriate” version of their platform.

Although the laws will be made public next week, the government is still planning 12 months of consultations to determine exactly what will be banned.

Here’s what we know about what could be inbound or outbound.

Instagram, Tiktok and Facebook risk being hit with an age ban

The bill will include a new definition of social media, aimed at capturing the key players the government considers to be the most problematic.

Communications Minister Michelle Rowland has regularly cited platforms like TikTok, X, Instagram and Facebook as prime targets for the ban.

Likewise, YouTube would probably also be subject to a ban, but the minister says YouTube Kids would not (more on that later).

A spokesperson for the minister said the government was developing a broad definition which could evolve as platforms emerge and change.

“The new definition will encompass a range of services with characteristics considered harmful to young people,” they said.

“The definition will be deliberately broad and robust, to reflect the diversity of services generally considered by the community to be social media.

“The framework of exemptions will ensure that non-social media services are not subject to age restrictions.”

While the four platforms mentioned above are certainly major players, questions arise regarding others that the minister did not mention.

Facebook Messenger, Whatsapp and Snapchat are all among the top ten most popular social media platforms in the country, according to online media monitor Meltwater.

Messaging platforms will be cut

Ms Rowland said the laws would seek to exclude “courier services” from the ban.

This could be good news for platforms like WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger – both owned by Meta – which are primarily platforms for sending and receiving messages.

Whether this will also apply to Snapchat is an open question that has been seized by the opposition.

Snap, the company behind Snapchat, wants to be exempt from any social media bans, arguing that it operates very differently from platforms like Instagram and TikTok.

Snap’s Henry Turnbull told a parliamentary inquiry into social media use earlier this year that the app was designed to be “the antidote to traditional social media platforms”.

“Our app is intentionally designed very differently,” he said.

“Snapchat is a visual messaging app for communicating with friends and family.

“It is not designed to connect users with people they don’t know in real life or to share unmoderated content with large groups of people.”

Snap argues that when users on other platforms open the app, they open to a News Feed, something Snapchat doesn’t have.

Ms Rowland left open the question of whether Snapchat would be banned as a social media platform or exempted as a messaging service.

But the Coalition insists it must be banned.

Shadow Communications Minister David Coleman said the platform was harming young people.

“For many Australian families, Snapchat has had a devastating impact on their children,” he said.

“The idea of ​​having age limits on social media without those limits applying to Snapchat is scandalous. It is extraordinary that the minister is saying that Snapchat could be exempt from the laws.

“The minister must rule out any exemption for Snapchat today.”

What about YouTube Kids and Instagram Teen accounts?

Ms Rowland urged platforms to consider creating dedicated, age-appropriate channels for young people.

Speaking to Nine radio, the minister cited YouTube Kids as a specific example.

“Part of what we want to do is encourage platforms to develop low-risk services,” she said.

“For example, YouTube Kids, that could be a candidate to benefit from these exemptions.”

YouTube Kids is a platform aimed at preschoolers through children under 12, offering content specifically for this age range.

This also gives parents ample opportunity to select content for their children, if they wish.

Given the content of the app and its popularity with parents, it would appear to be a reasonably non-controversial exemption.

There could be more controversial candidates.

Meta has developed a category called Instagram Teen Accounts, designed to tweak the broader youth-oriented Instagram platform.

Accounts are automatically set to private, so the user must approve new followers and can only receive messages from people they are connected to.

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“Sensitive content” will also be excluded from their feeds and they will receive notifications letting them know when they have been on the app for 60 minutes.

All of these settings are editable, but anyone under 16 will need parental approval.

The ABC asked Meta if it would consider seeking an exemption for Teen Instagram accounts, but the company won’t comment until the bill is made public.

However, it has previously been argued that parents should have the final say over how their children use social media.

Meta’s head of security, Antigone Davis, said allowing parental controls was a more elegant solution than a blanket ban on young people.

“Research shows that parents want to be involved in their teens’ online lives and want to have a say in determining what is appropriate for their teen,” she said.

“We are confident that parental approval and age verification at the operating system and app store level will provide a simple and effective solution, while reducing privacy burden and risks parents and adolescents.”

If Meta can secure an exemption for Instagram Teen accounts and similar platforms like Messenger Kids, it could serve as a model for other companies.

Coalition calls for hard line on exemptions

Labor and the Coalition want a ban on social media, and both would like the legislation to be passed before the end of the year.

But the Coalition is taking a much harder line on exemptions, warning that if young people can still access major social media platforms in some form, they could withdraw their support.

Shadow Communications Minister David Coleman said the legislation could not contain “loopholes”.

“We don’t want to see the possibility of exemptions from the law for companies like Instagram, TikTok or Snapchat,” he said.

“Or supposedly creating a safe version of these products, because there is no safe version of TikTok for kids.

“It’s just a fact and we need to recognize it, but we need to see this legislation.”

Mr Coleman said the Opposition would “work constructively” with the Government when the bill arrives next week.

How will exemptions be decided?

If a bill banning social media passes Parliament in the next two weeks, it won’t be the end of the road.

This will begin what will become a 12-month process of determining how the ban will work in practice, before it actually takes effect.

Social media platforms will have this period to make their case for an exemption under the ban, or potentially make changes to meet the exemption criteria.

And the government has yet to determine how a ban would be enforced.

Ultimately, social media platforms will be responsible for administering the ban, and they will face sanctions if young people circumvent them.

At the same time, the government is launching an “age assurance trial” with the UK’s Age Check Certification Scheme consortium to test various technologies.

The consortium specializes in age verification, using everything from identity checks to AI technology that reads a person’s facial features and estimates their age.

There are still many details to be found in the legislation once it goes to Parliament next week, and many more to be fine-tuned even once it passes.