PTC says Meta Must Take Steps to Ensure Hollywood is Prevented from Marketing R-Rated Fare to Kids

LOS ANGELES (January 12, 2023) – The Parents Television and Media Council (PTC) is urging Meta to ensure that Hollywood cannot target children with content relating to explicit TV-MA and R-rated entertainment, in light of the social media company’s decision to limit ad targeting based on a teen’s gender and location.

PTC research revealed that Hollywood is marketing teen-targeted TV shows with explicit adult content to young teens through social media sites like Instagram that are popular with 13-17-year-olds.

“Given that children and teens are bombarded with social media messages from Hollywood about explicit TV-MA and R-rated content, Meta should ensure that this kind of content is also limited. Currently, Hollywood does an end-run around parents by enabling shows with explicit adult content to be marketed to children through social media channels. Stopping this needs to be a priority for Meta, and for all social media channels,” said Melissa Henson, vice president of the Parents Television and Media Council.

“President Biden has called on tech leaders to ensure children are protected from online content ‘that threatens their mental health and safety.’ With a mental health crisis among youth, coupled with growing evidence of social media’s harm on children, it is time for Big Tech to act to better protect our children.”