Instagram Adopts PG-13 Content Standard for Teen Users
Meta announced today (Tuesday) that Instagram will begin restricting the content its teenage users can see to align with the PG-13 movie rating system.
The update, which will roll out by the end of the year in the U.S., U.K., Australia, and Canada before expanding globally, is designed to give parents a clearer understanding of what their children encounter on the platform.
Under the new policy, teens under 18 will automatically be placed in the 13+ content setting and will need parental permission to opt out. The restrictions will limit exposure to posts that include strong language, sexualized material, depictions of drugs or alcohol, and risky or harmful behaviors such as dangerous stunts. Certain search terms like “alcohol” or “gore” will also be blocked, even when misspelled.
Instagram says it will also hide or stop recommending accounts that share sexual or adult-themed content, such as those promoting OnlyFans or liquor products. Teen users will be unable to follow or interact with such accounts, and those accounts will be unable to follow or message teens.
“This includes hiding or not recommending posts with strong language, certain risky stunts, and additional content that could encourage potentially harmful behaviors, such as posts showing marijuana paraphernalia,” Meta says in a blog post, calling the update its most significant safety change for teens since introducing teen-specific accounts last year.
Meta executives says the company chose the PG-13 standard to make its content policies easier for parents to understand.
“We decided to more closely align our policies with an independent standard that parents are familiar with, so we reviewed our age-appropriate guidelines against PG-13 movie ratings and updated them accordingly,” Meta says. “While of course there are differences between movies and social media, we made these changes so teens’ experience in the 13+ setting feels closer to the Instagram equivalent of watching a PG-13 movie.”
Max Eulenstein, Instagram’s head of product management, says the company used panels of parents to evaluate which types of material would meet the new standard. “Our North Star in the teen experience is parents and what they’re telling us they want for their teens, and that’s what led to this development and why we focused on the PG-13 standard,” he says.
Meta adds that its artificial intelligence systems will help identify and moderate content according to the new guidelines. The policy will also extend to conversations with the company’s AI chatbots. These bots, which have fictional personalities and can message users directly, will “not give age-inappropriate responses that would be out of place in a PG-13 movie,” Meta says.
A stricter “Limited Content” setting will also be available for parents who want tighter controls. This option will block additional categories of content and limit interactions, such as commenting or viewing comments under posts.
The changes come amid ongoing criticism from lawmakers, researchers, and advocacy groups who say Meta has failed to protect minors from harmful content. A 2021 internal report revealed that Instagram negatively affected the mental health of some teenage users, particularly girls.
Last week, New York City filed a major lawsuit against several social media compnaies, including Meta, accusing them of contributing to what officials describe as a “youth mental health crisis.”
Image credits: Header photo licensed via Depositphotos.
