Instagram is stepping up its efforts to protect its younger users by introducing new content restrictions for teenagers, drawing inspiration from the familiar PG-13 movie rating system. This move comes a year after the platform implemented significant changes to teen account settings, prompted by increasing concerns from parents and legislators regarding child safety online.
The updated policy, set to roll out by the end of the year, will not only govern the content visible to teen users but will also extend to their interactions with Meta’s artificial intelligence chatbots. These AI companions have recently faced intense scrutiny and investigation from lawmakers over reports of inappropriate sexual conversations with children.
Max Eulenstein, Instagram’s head of product management, explained that adopting the PG-13 standard aims to provide parents with a recognizable framework. While PG-13 rated movies typically permit some mild language, violence, and partial nudity, Meta has clarified that it will not recommend any content featuring nudity to its teen audience on Instagram.
“Our ultimate goal for the teen experience is guided by what parents tell us they want for their children. This principle drove the development of these new features and our decision to focus on the PG-13 standard,” Mr. Eulenstein stated in a recent interview.
Meta, the parent company of Instagram, Facebook, WhatsApp, and Messenger, has a long history of addressing concerns about how its platforms impact children, with commitments to protect minors from inappropriate content dating back to 2008. CEO Mark Zuckerberg has frequently been questioned by lawmakers on child safety matters, and Meta currently faces multiple personal injury lawsuits accusing it of creating addictive products harmful to young people.
These latest updates mark Instagram’s most substantial revision to teen content moderation since last year’s sweeping policy changes, which included making accounts for users under 18 private by default. That earlier change meant only approved followers could view a teen’s posts.
Beyond simply limiting content in feeds, the new measures will make it significantly more challenging for teenagers to actively search for or access adult content. They will also face restrictions on interacting with certain accounts altogether. Additionally, Instagram plans to introduce a “Limited Content” setting that parents can enable, offering an even stricter filter than the standard PG-13 rating.
This initiative also represents one of Meta’s first major safety enhancements specifically for AI chatbots, which have been under fire for conversations that have potentially harmed some users. Instagram’s “AI characters” – chatbots with distinct personalities – will be programmed to avoid providing “age-inappropriate responses” that would be considered out of line with a PG-13 movie rating.
To establish its new policy, Instagram mirrored the Motion Picture Association’s process for rating movies. They convened panels of thousands of parents to evaluate app content and determine what qualified as PG-13 appropriate. Mr. Eulenstein confirmed that the platform will also leverage its latest AI technology to automatically rate and moderate content accordingly.