What To Know About Instagram’s New ‘PG-13’ Pledge—And How Parents Can Get Around It

3 hours ago 12

Topline

Meta has said it will roll out new guidelines for teen accounts Tuesday that will restrict what users see on Instagram to content that’s similar to what they’d see in a PG-13 movie, with parents able to set stricter or looser restrictions as they see fit after slew of bad press about how kids were using the app.

Three teenage boys looks at their smartphone screens.

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Key Facts

The new restrictions aim to keep instances of “suggestive content” or strong language “as rare as possible” for young users, Meta said, calling the new experience the “equivalent of watching a PG-13 movie.”

Sexually suggestive content, graphic or disturbing images and posts promoting tobacco and alcohol were already hidden from teen users, but the new policies will hide even more, including posts with strong language, certain risky stunts and content that could encourage “potentially harmful behaviors,” like posts showing marijuana paraphernalia.

Other changes include not allowing teens to follow accounts that regularly share age-inappropriate content; blocking search terms related to suicide, self-harm and eating disorders; blocking direct messages with inappropriate content; and updating the in-app artificial intelligence experience to also be guided by a PG-13 rating.

Any Instagram account belonging to someone under the age of 18 will be automatically opted in to the new restrictions and won't be able to get around them without a parent’s permission (and parents can also choose to implement even stricter rules for their child’s account).

Instagram already uses an AI-driven tool Meta calls “age prediction technology” to uncover users who lied about their age when creating their account, and will automatically apply the new restrictions to any account it suspects is being used by someone under 18.

Meta has been regularly updating and adding new restrictions to its teen account policies for the last year, but independent researchers have said the tools have, in some cases, failed to stop them from seeing harmful content and that young users are still exposed to solicitation and exploitation.

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Key Background

Instagram has been available to users 13 years old or older since its inception, but began rolling out mandatory "teen account" settings last September to address parental concerns that included exposure to inappropriate contact, online grooming and too much screen time. Initial account policies included strict content controls, reminders to leave the app after 60 minutes and the ability only to message people they follow or are already connected to. Despite the updates, the year since teen accounts were introduced has still been full of criticism over how teens use the company’s products. Last month, two Meta employees testified in Congress that the company's virtual reality products have exposed children to bullying, sexual imagery and mature content like cambling and violence, and that children have been solicited for nude photographs and sexual acts by pedophiles. Meta disputed the claims and said they were "based on selectively leaked internal documents that were picked specifically to craft a false narrative." In August, Reuters reported the company's AI bots were allowed to “engage a child in conversations that are romantic or sensual." The company said it was revisiting its AI chat standards. A recent study found that only eight of 47 Meta safety tools meant to protect teenagers were working well, and the other 39 were either ineffective or no longer being implemented at all. A Meta spokesperson hit back at the report, telling the BBC it “repeatedly misrepresents our efforts to empower parents and protect teens, misstating how our safety tools work and how millions of parents and teens are using them today.”

Big Number

54 million. That’s how many teen accounts are registered on Instagram around the world, Instagram said in April, adding that 9 in 10 of those accounts had not had the protections overridden by parents.

Surprising Fact

Before increasing criticisms, Meta was working to develop an Instagram Kids service for children 13 or younger. It paused the initiative in 2021 after increasing calls to address how Instagram impacts young people’s mental health, specifically the impact on teenage girls.