MPA Demands Instagram Stop Using “PG-13” Label in Teen Safety Policy

Hollywood’s leading trade association has ordered Instagram to stop using its movie rating terminology to describe the platform’s teen content policies, saying the practice misleads the public and infringes on its trademark.

In a cease-and-desist letter sent last week, the Motion Picture Association (MPA) accused Instagram’s parent company, Meta, of improperly using the “PG-13” label in promotional materials describing its new content controls for teenagers.

“The MPA has worked for decades to earn the public’s trust in its rating system,” MPA attorney Naresh Kilaru wrote in the Oct. 28 letter, which was shared with NBC News. “Any dissatisfaction with Meta’s automated classification will inevitably cause the public to question the integrity of the MPA’s rating system.”

Kilaru called Meta’s claims that its teen accounts would be “guided by PG-13 standards” both “literally false and highly misleading,” adding that the label is a registered certification mark owned by the MPA.

The dispute stems from an Oct. 14 blog post in which Meta announced that Instagram was “revamping Teen Accounts to be guided by PG-13 movie ratings.” The company said the new system would ensure teens “see content similar to what they’d see in a PG-13 movie,” noting that occasional exposure to “suggestive content or strong language” might still occur.

In response to the MPA’s complaint, a Meta spokesperson said the company never intended to imply an official partnership with the film group or that its content filters were part of the formal ratings process. “We know social media isn’t the same as movies, but we made this change to support parents,” the spokesperson said. “We hope to work with the MPA to continue bringing families this clarity.”

The MPA’s letter emphasized that its film ratings are determined through a “consensus-based process driven by an independent group of parents who view the entirety of a film and evaluate various factors in context.” By contrast, Meta’s automated approach to classifying posts “cannot be ‘guided by’ or ‘aligned with’” the official PG-13 standard, the MPA said.

The MPA — formerly known as the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) — created its movie rating system in 1968. The PG-13 rating was added in 1984 after calls for a middle ground between “PG” and “R” classifications. The first film released under the new rating was Red Dawn.

The association represents Hollywood’s major studios — Disney, Paramount, Sony, Universal, and Warner Bros. — as well as Amazon MGM Studios, Amazon Prime Video, and Netflix. Universal Pictures is part of NBCUniversal, the parent company of NBC News.