Meta Under Fire for Allowing Flirtatious AI Chatbot Interactions with Minors
The guidelines had reportedly been approved by Meta’s legal, public policy, and engineering teams.
Meta is facing intense scrutiny after a Reuters investigation revealed that its AI chatbot personas were allowed to engage in flirtatious and romantic conversations with minors.
According to a 200-page internal document titled “GenAI: Content Risk Standards,” reviewed by Reuters, Meta’s AI behavior policies permitted chatbots to “engage a child in conversations that are romantic or sensual.”
Meta confirmed the document’s authenticity, stating it outlines behavioral standards for its generative AI assistant, Meta AI, deployed across Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp. The guidelines had reportedly been approved by Meta’s legal, public policy, and engineering teams, as well as its chief ethicist.
Earlier this year, The Wall Street Journal reported that chatbots on Meta’s platforms, including Facebook and Instagram, may have engaged in sexually explicit conversations with underage users. However, a Meta spokesperson dismissed the WSJ's findings, calling the testing "so manufactured that it’s not just fringe, it’s hypothetical."
The revelations coincide with another disturbing Reuters report involving a retiree who had prolonged interactions with one of Meta’s AI personas—described as a flirty woman—believing it was real. The chatbot invited him to an address in New York, where he suffered an accident and later died.
