“The Motion Picture Association is telling Meta Platforms Inc. to back off its rating system. Last month, Meta’s Instagram announced that it would take a cue from the MPA and that its teen accounts would “be guided” by the PG-13 rating. The MPA said at the time that Meta had not contacted it before announcing”, — write: www.hollywoodreporter.com
Last month, Meta’s Instagram announced that it would take a cue from the MPA and that its teen accounts would “be guided” by the PG-13 rating. The MPA said at the time that Meta had not contacted it before announcing the move.
In a legal letter sent last week, which was viewed by The Hollywood Reporter, the MPA demanded that Meta and Instagram stop using the PG-13 mark, calling the claims made by the tech giant “literally false and highly misleading.”
“Meta’s attempts to restrict teen content literally cannot be ‘guided by’ or ‘aligned with’ the MPA’s PG-13 movie rating because Meta does not follow this curated process,” the MPA wrote in the letter. “Instead, Meta’s content restrictions appear to rely heavily on artificial intelligence or other automated technology measures.”
The MPA notes that its ratings system, including PG-13, are registered certification marks, authorized by the US Trademark Office in the 1980s. The organization, which represents the major film and TV studios, as well as major streaming platforms, argues in the letter that Instagram is trying to exploit the public’s trust in its ratings system for its own gain.
“Any dissatisfaction with Meta’s automated classification will inevitably cause the public to question the integrity of the MPA’s rating system,” the MPA wrote. “In fact, this is one of the key reasons that the MPA declined an earlier request by one of Instagram’s competitors for permission to use the rating on its platform.”
Instagram initially announced the move as a means of tightening parental controls over teen accounts, including limits on sexually suggestive content, graphic or disturbing content, or content that featured alcohol or drug use, risky stunts, drug paraphernalia, and strong language.
“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,” the company said at the time. “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.”
The MPA, it seems, feels different.