Instagram is officially going PG-13.
Meta announced that the platform’s Teen Accounts will soon follow the same guidelines as the Motion Picture Association’s PG-13 movie rating — but what does that actually mean for teens, parents, and the content they see?
Essentially, Instagram is aligning its content rules for teen users with what you’d typically find in a PG-13 film. Think mild profanity, limited nudity, and non-explicit depictions of mature themes. Gone will be the days where teen accounts could stumble across accounts or posts that feature R-rated material.
What Is a Teen Account?
Instagram launched Teen Accounts in September 2024 for users ages 13 to 17. These accounts are supervised by a parent or guardian over the age of 18, giving adults more oversight and control. Since their launch, the feature has proven popular — according to Instagram, 97% of teens aged 13 to 15 have kept their default protections on, and 94% of parents surveyed say Teen Accounts have been helpful in keeping their kids safer online.
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Why PG-13?
The platform explained the reasoning behind this major update in a blog post on Tuesday. “While Teen Accounts already have built-in protections, we understand that inappropriate content remains a top concern for parents — and that our existing content settings can feel confusing,” Instagram said. “We wanted to more closely align with an external standard parents are more familiar with, to provide clarity and peace of mind that when their teen is on Instagram, they’re seeing content similar to what they’d see in a PG-13 movie by default.”
In other words, by using the MPA’s well-known rating system, Instagram hopes parents will have a clearer sense of what their teens are exposed to online — without needing to decode vague or complicated settings.
What Will Change for Teens?
Starting soon, all supervised teen accounts will automatically shift to the PG-13 experience. Teens won’t be able to opt out of these new restrictions without their parent’s permission. The change will affect everything on the app, including Feed, Stories, comments, recommendations, and search results. It also applies to entire accounts, meaning teens won’t be able to follow or interact with pages that regularly share 18+ content.
Instagram is also introducing an even stricter setting for parents who want to limit what their teens see even further.
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What Does PG-13 Actually Mean?
To put this in perspective, here’s how the Motion Picture Association defines a PG-13 rating:
“A PG-13 rating is a sterner warning [than PG] by the Rating Board to parents to determine whether their children under age 13 should view the motion picture, as some material might not be suited for them. A PG-13 motion picture may go beyond the PG rating in theme, violence, nudity, sensuality, language, adult activities or other elements, but does not reach the restricted R category.”
The guidelines also explain that any drug use requires at least a PG-13 rating, and more than brief nudity or repeated use of strong expletives would push a movie into R-rated territory.
