News Investigation

Meta Revises AI-Chatbot Rules for Teens After Reuters Investigation and Senate Inquiry

Aug 2025 🇺🇸 TechCrunch

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Two weeks after the Reuters investigation into Meta's internal AI-chatbot guidelines became public, Meta announced interim policy changes: teen-facing chatbot personas would no longer engage users on self-harm, suicide, or disordered eating, or hold what the company called 'potentially inappropriate romantic conversations,' and teen access would be limited to educational or creative AI characters, with sensitive topics redirected to outside expert resources instead. The changes followed a formal inquiry Senator Josh Hawley opened into whether Meta's chatbots exploit children or the company misled regulators, plus reported scrutiny from a coalition of state attorneys general. TechKids Foundation cites this as a documented policy outcome the contemporaneous reporting directly credits to the earlier investigation, not as an independent assessment of whether the changes are adequate.

Sept. 19, 2025

Deadline Senator Josh Hawley set for Meta to turn over policy drafts, product lists, safety reports, and the names of responsible personnel as part of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee inquiry opened after the Reuters investigation.

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CITATION

Zeff, Maxwell. 'Meta Updates Chatbot Rules to Avoid Inappropriate Topics With Teen Users.' TechCrunch, August 29, 2025.

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