Just a year after implementing significant privacy and safety updates for its younger users, Instagram is taking even bolder steps to protect teenagers online. The platform, owned by Meta, recently announced an expansion of its content restrictions, now aligning with the familiar PG-13 rating system from the film industry.
This new policy, set to roll out by the end of the year, isn’t just for posts and stories. It will also govern interactions with Meta’s artificial intelligence chatbots, which have been under intense scrutiny from lawmakers due to concerns about them engaging in inappropriate conversations with minors.
Max Eulenstein, Instagram’s head of product management, explained that the choice of the PG-13 standard was deliberate, aiming for a system that parents already understand. While PG-13 films typically allow for some mature themes like mild violence, occasional strong language, and brief nudity, Meta has clarified that it will specifically avoid recommending any content featuring nudity to its teen demographic. ‘Our guiding principle for the teen experience is what parents tell us they want for their children, and that focus directly led to adopting the PG-13 standard,’ Mr. Eulenstein shared in a recent interview.
Meta, the tech giant behind Facebook, WhatsApp, and Messenger, has faced ongoing challenges regarding how its platforms impact children. For over a decade, dating back to 2008, the company has pledged to safeguard minors from unsuitable content. CEO Mark Zuckerberg has frequently been questioned by legislators about child safety, and Meta is currently defending against personal injury lawsuits that allege its addictive products harm young people.
With hundreds of millions of teenage users, these changes mark Instagram’s most substantial update to content moderation for teens since last year’s comprehensive policy overhaul. That previous update defaulted accounts for users under 18 to private, meaning only approved followers could view their content.
Building on those initial safety measures that restricted what material appeared in teenagers’ feeds, Tuesday’s announcement goes further. It will make it more difficult for teens to actively seek out adult content and will prevent them from interacting with certain accounts altogether. Additionally, the app plans to introduce a ‘Limited Content’ setting, offering parents an even stricter level of control than the standard PG-13 rating.
This initiative also represents one of Meta’s first major safety advancements specifically targeting AI chatbots, which are facing scrutiny for conversations that have harmed some users. Instagram features ‘A.I. characters’ – chatbots designed with distinct personalities that users can message. Meta assures that these chatbots will consistently ‘not give age-inappropriate responses’ that would be considered out of place in a PG-13 movie.
To establish its new policy, Instagram adopted a process similar to how movies receive their PG-13 ratings. It convened panels comprising thousands of parents to evaluate and rate in-app content based on what they deemed appropriate for the PG-13 standard. Furthermore, Instagram will leverage its cutting-edge AI technology to continuously rate and moderate content in line with these new guidelines, as stated by Mr. Eulenstein.