The Motion Pictures Association has warned Instagram parent Meta to cease and desist the recently introduced Teen Accounts that are “guided by PG-13,” which the organization says exploits its ratings brand.
“The MPA’s ratings program is a rigorous, human-driven process where every film is carefully assigned an individualized rating and content descriptors. Whatever mechanism Meta uses to moderate content cannot responsibly be compared to that comprehensive process. The MPA’s program rates roughly 500 films a year; millions and potentially billions of images and videos are posted to Instagram each day,” it said, asking for the social media giant to implement remedial measures.
“For more than half a century, the MPA has maintained the well-known motion picture rating system to guide moviegoers and parents alike regarding the content of films they are about to watch. All of the ratings underlying the system are registered certification marks owned by MPA, including the famous PG-13 certification mark,” said the letter that includes certifications it said are “incontestable and constitute conclusive evidence of the validity of the PG-13 mark and of the MPA’s exclusive right to use that mark in commerce.”
Last month, Instagram touted a revamp of its often-controversial teen accounts with a new default feature that it said limits content to what’s appropriate for a PG-13 movie as set by Hollywood’s ratings system. “Teens under 18 will be automatically placed into an updated 13+ setting, and they won’t be able to opt out without a parent’s permission,” the company announced in blog post.
In its letter today, the MPA said, “The only reason Meta invokes the PG-13 rating is because it knows that rating is an established standard long trusted by the public and wants to exploit that trust for Meta’s own benefit,” calling the claims “literally false and highly misleading.” “The MPA’s ratings are determined by an organic and consensus-based process driven by an independent group of parents who view the entirety of a film and evaluate various factors in context. Meta’s attempts to restrict teen content literally cannot be “guided by” or “aligned with” the MPA’s PG-13 movie rating because Meta does not follow this curated process. Instead, Meta’s content restrictions appear to rely heavily on artificial intelligence or other automated technology measures.”
In a statement to Deadline, a Meta spokesperson said, “Parents tell us they want to better understand what their teens see on Instagram. To make things simpler for them, we updated our teen content policies to be closer to PG-13 movie standards— which parents already know. We know social media isn’t the same as movies, but we made this change to support parents, and we hope to work with the MPA to continue bringing families this clarity.”
Meta said its intention was never to suggest that it had officially partnered or been rated by the MPA and that it never made this claim. Rather, the social media giant said, it explained that it had drawn inspiration from the movie industry and reviewed its age-appropriate guidelines against the MPA’s official, public standards.
New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez, whose Department of Justice sued Meta for design choices it alleges put children at risk of sexual abuse, human trafficking and mental health harms, also weighed in.
“Rather than actually make its platforms safe for young people as the law requires, Meta continues to roll out half-baked PR initiatives that… lull families into a false sense of security.,” he said. “Meta’s ratings game is difficult to square with Mark Zuckerberg’s announcement that he has rolled back oversight of the content of its platforms and is inconsistent with a platform driven by recommendation algorithms.”
The lawsuit, which is set to go to trial in February, alleges that Meta repeatedly misled the public about the dangers its products pose to children.
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