Meta announced today (Tuesday) that Instagram will begin restricting the content that its teen users can access that aligns with the PG-13 movie rating system.
The update, which will roll out to the US, UK, Australia and Canada by the end of the year before expanding globally, is designed to give parents a clearer understanding of what their children experience on the platform.
Under the new policy, teens under 18 will automatically be placed in a 13+ content setting and will need parental permission to opt out. The restrictions will limit the display of posts that contain strong language, sexually explicit content, depictions of drugs or alcohol, and risky or harmful behavior such as dangerous stunts. Some search terms like “alcohol” or “gore” will also be blocked, even if they are misspelled.
Instagram says it will also hide or stop recommending accounts that share sexual or adult-themed content, such as OnlyFans or those promoting alcohol products. Teen users will be unable to follow or interact with such accounts, and those accounts will be unable to follow or send messages to teens.
“This includes hiding or not recommending posts containing strong language, some risky stunts, and additional content that could encourage potentially harmful behavior, such as posts showing marijuana paraphernalia,” Meta says. blog postThe update is described as the most significant security change for teens since the introduction of teen-specific accounts last year.
Meta officials say the company chose the PG-13 standard to make its content policies easier for parents to understand.
Meta says, “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 the PG-13 movie rating and updated them accordingly.” “While there are obviously differences between movies and social media, we’ve made these changes so that the experience for teens in a 13+ setting feels closer to the Instagram equivalent of watching a PG-13 movie.”
Max Ullenstein, Instagram’s head of product management, says the company used a panel of parents to evaluate what type of content would meet the new standard. He says, “Our North Star in the teen experience is parents and what they’re telling us is what they want for their teens, and that’s what led to this evolution and why we focused on the PG-13 standard.”
Meta says its artificial intelligence system will help identify and moderate content according to the new guidelines. This policy will also extend to interactions 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 strict “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 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. Internal Report 2021 revealed it Instagram negatively impacted the mental health of some teenage users, especially girls.
Last week, New York City filed a major lawsuit A number of social media companies, including Meta, have been sued, accused of contributing to what authorities have described as a “youth mental health crisis”.
Image Credit: Header photo is licensed via gathering photo,
