Instagram will use a Hollywood playbook to moderate the content that teen users are exposed to.
Instagram announced via its blog that Instagram Teen Accounts will be “guided” by the MPA’s (Motion Picture Association) PG-13 rating.
So what exactly does that mean?
According to the blog post, that means teen users will be restricted from seeing nudity, sexual expression, profanity, drug use, violence, and other adult-oriented themes.
Per Instagram:
Just like you might see some suggestive content or hear some strong language in a PG-13 movie, teens may occasionally see something like that on Instagram – but we’re going to keep doing all we can to keep those instances as rare as possible. We recognize no system is perfect, and we’re committed to improving over time. We hope this update reassures parents that we’re working to show teens safe, age-appropriate content on Instagram by default, while also giving them more ways to shape their teen’s experience.
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 PG-13 movie ratings and updated them accordingly. While of course, there are differences between movies and social media, we made these changes so teens’ experiences in the 13+ setting feel closer to the Instagram equivalent of watching a PG-13 movie.
Instagram says this new measure is “a new, stricter setting for parents who prefer a more restrictive experience for their teen.”
The photo/video sharing app also notes that it invited thousands of parents worldwide to provide feedback on what it describes as the most significant update to Teen Accounts since introducing them last year.
