Movie group to Meta: Stop using PG-13

The Motion Picture Association, which rates films based on content, sent a cease-and-desist letter asking Facebook parent company Meta to stop using the PG-13 rating.

The group’s letter, sent to Meta on Oct. 28, contended that the social media giant could use artificial intelligence to decide what content constitutes PG-13.

“Any dissatisfaction with Meta’s automated classification will inevitably cause the public to question the integrity of the MPA’s rating system. … Meta’s activities are likely to cause consumers to believe that Meta is approved to use the PG-13 rating or that Meta and the MPA are collaborating in some way,” an MPA lawyer wrote in the letter, according to Variety.

Meta initially used the rating terminology in a post on Oct. 13 regarding teen accounts on Instagram. 

The accounts “will be guided by PG-13 movie ratings by default. This means that teens will see content on Instagram that’s similar to what they’d see in a PG-13 movie. 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,” Meta wrote.

Two weeks before sending the cease-and-desist letter, the MPA said on its own website, “The Motion Picture Association was not contacted by Meta prior to the announcement … but assertions that Instagram’s new tool will be ‘guided by PG-13 movie ratings’ or have any connection to the film industry’s rating system are inaccurate.”

A Meta spokesperson told The Wall Street Journal that, to help parents, “we updated our teen content policies to be closer to PG-13 movie standards — which parents already know,” adding that the company wants to work with the MPA to make content policies clear for families.

Meta also told The Associated Press that it never intended to suggest it had an official partnership with the MPA or that the movie trade association had any involvement in rating content on Instagram or other platforms.