Meta limits what teens see on Instagram to PG-13 content

Meta will now limit the content that teenage users can see on Instagram to what they would typically encounter in a film rated PG-13, the social media company said on Tuesday, 14 October 2025.

Under the new content guidelines, Meta said it will hide certain accounts from teenagers, including those that share sexualised content or media related to drugs and alcohol.

Teenagers on Instagram will not be recommended posts containing swear words, although teen users can still search for such content.

The changes come after the company faced waves of criticism over its handling of child safety and related mental health concerns on its platform.

As part of the changes, Instagram accounts with names or biographies linking to adult-themed websites such as OnlyFans or liquor stores will be hidden from teens, the company said.

Teen Instagram users will no longer be able to follow those kinds of accounts, and if they already do, they will be unable to see or interact with the more adult-leaning content that they share.

Meta executives said during a media briefing that while the company’s previous content guidelines were already in line with or exceeded PG-13 standards, some parents expressed confusion about what kinds of content teens could view on Instagram.

To provide clarity, Meta decided to more closely standardise its teen-content policies with film ratings that parents could better understand.

“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 film ratings and updated them accordingly.

“While of course there are differences between films and social media, we made these changes so teens’ experience in the 13+ setting feels closer to the Instagram equivalent of watching a PG-13 film,” the company said in a blog post.

The social media company has come under fire from lawmakers who claim it fails to adequately police its platform for child safety-related issues.

The company, then known as Facebook, came under scrutiny in 2021 when The Wall Street Journal published a report citing internal company research that showed how harmful Instagram was for teenage girls specifically.

Other reports have also shown how easily teenagers can use Instagram to find drugs, including through ads run by the company.

Over the past year, Meta has rolled out several features intended to provide parents with more transparency about how their teenagers are using the company’s apps.

In July, Meta introduced new safety tools designed to make it easier for teenage Instagram users to block and report accounts, as well as receive more information about who they interact with on the platform.

In August, the watchdog Tech Transparency Project released a report alleging that Meta’s ties and sponsorship of the National Parent Teacher Association “give a sheen of expert approval” to its “efforts to keep young users engaged on its platforms.”

The National PTA said in a statement that it does not endorse any social media platform, while Meta said at the time that it is “proud to partner with expert organisations to educate parents about our safety tools and protections for teens, as many other tech companies do.”

Meta said its new Instagram content guidelines will begin rolling out Tuesday in the United States, United Kingdom, Australia and Canada before expanding to other regions.