As first reported by the Wall Street Journal, the Motion Picture Association of America (MPA) sent Mehta a cease-and-desist letter demanding that he stop using the term “PG-13.”
Last month, Meta announced that by default, teens on Instagram would only see content compliant with the PG-13 movie rating. Two weeks later, the MPA sent Meta a cease and desist letter, claiming that Meta’s claim that the content on the teen’s Instagram account follows PG-13 guidelines is “literally false and highly misleading.”
The company said its movie rating system could not be compared to Meta’s content restrictions, saying Meta “appears to rely heavily on artificial intelligence.”
“The MPA has worked for decades to gain public confidence in the ratings system,” the letter said. “If the public is dissatisfied with Meta’s automatic classification, it will inevitably lead to them questioning the integrity of the MPA’s rating system.”
In response to the letter, Meta said it does not claim that its teen accounts are certified by the MPA or officially rated PG-13. Additionally, the company says its content restrictions are not directly related to the MPA, but are “guided” by PG-13. Meta also stated that its use of the term constitutes fair use.
