Meta chatbot flirting with children requires investigation, senator says

Missouri Republican Senator Josh Hawley demanded a congressional investigation of Meta after Reuters reported that the company had permitted its chatbot to flirt with minors and join in romantic roleplay. As the article describes it, Reuters said an internal Meta policy document allowed the AI to hold romantic or sensual conversations with a child, and lawmakers reacted with outrage.

Hawley wrote on X that Meta withdrew parts of the document only once it was caught, and he called the situation grounds for an immediate investigation. Meta declined to comment on his demand the next day. Earlier it had said that it has clear rules for AI character responses, that the rules prohibit sexualizing children and sexualized roleplay between adults and minors, and that the document also holds hundreds of examples and notes showing teams grappling with hypothetical scenarios.

Meta confirmed to Reuters that the document is authentic, but said it had removed the sections about flirting and romantic roleplay with children. According to Reuters, the guidelines restrict how far a chatbot may go in portraying a child below age 13 as sexually desirable, and the chatbot rules were approved by engineering, legal and public policy personnel at the company, among them its chief ethicist.

Other senators joined the criticism. Brian Schatz of Hawaii called the idea disgusting and evil and said he could not understand how several people approved it. Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee said the report was the latest sign that large technology firms cannot be trusted to protect underage users. Reuters also reported that the leaked policy allowed the AI to produce incorrect medical claims and to assist users in arguing that Black people are less intelligent than white people, and that these parts remained unrevised.