Meta To Limit PG-13 References For Instagram Teen In Agreement With MPA

Meta is scaling back and qualifying its use of the Motion Picture Association’s trademarked PG-13 film rating for Instagram Teen Accounts. It appropriated the 60-year-old moniker last fall to reassure parents amid controversy around youth engagement on the platform.

Meta agreed to “substantially reduce” its references to the PG-13 mark and add a disclaimer that reads in part: “We didn’t work with the MPA when updating our content settings, and they’re not rating any content on Instagram, and they’re not endorsing or approving our content settings in any way. Rather, we drew inspiration from the MPA’s public guidelines, which are already familiar to parents.”

“There are lots of differences between social media and movies,” the disclaimer says. “Our content moderation systems are not the same as a movie ratings board, so the experience may not be exactly the same.”

MPA chairman-CEO Charles Rivkin said the agreement “clearly distinguishes the MPA’s film ratings from Instagram’s Teen Account content moderation tools.”

“While we welcome efforts to protect kids from content that may not be appropriate for them, this agreement helps ensure that parents do not conflate the two systems – which operate in very different contexts.”

Meta announced in mid-October that a new content moderation tool for its Instagram Teen Accounts would be “guided by the PG-13 rating,” a move that was followed shortly by a cease-and-desist letter from the MPA.

Said Meta: “We’re pleased to have reached an agreement with the MPA. By taking inspiration from a framework families know, our goal was to help parents better understand our teen content policies. We rigorously reviewed those policies against 13+ movie ratings criteria and parent feedback, updated them, and applied them to Teen Accounts by default. While that’s not changing, we’ve taken the MPA’s feedback on how we talk about that work. We’ll keep working to support parents and provide age-appropriate experiences for teens,” said a Meta spokesperson.

The terms of the agreement take effect April 15.