Meta, the company behind Facebook, Instagram, and Messenger, recently found itself in a PR nightmare. Internal AI guidelines revealed that Meta’s chatbots were once allowed to engage in romantic and flirtatious conversations with minors. Yes and this was allowed in official internal rules.
A Shocking Glimpse Behind the Curtain
Leaked documents showed that Meta’s chatbots could express love, flirt, and make suggestive comments to children. Examples included telling kids “your youthful beauty is a work of art” or asking them to imagine intimate scenarios. While the rules supposedly prohibited describing children under 13 in sexual terms, chatbots could still comment on a child’s attractiveness or make inappropriate, suggestive remarks.
This permissiveness came from a desire to make chatbots “more engaging” after previous versions were deemed boring.
Public Outcry and Meta’s Backtrack
The revelations sparked immediate backlash. Parents, child safety advocates, and tech critics were horrified. Meta quickly removed the rules, updating its AI policies to prohibit chatbots from behaving in romantic or “creepy” ways toward minors.
Still, the damage is clear. For a period, Meta’s AI was allowed to interact with vulnerable users in ways that felt, well, dangerous.
Why This Matters
This isn’t just a scandal. It’s a warning about how unprepared us humans are for AI. Kids can develop emotional attachments to chatbots. They can be influenced, manipulated, or simply confused by inappropriate conversations. The Meta incident exposes the challenge of balancing AI innovation with human safety, particularly for the most vulnerable.
Protecting Kids in the Age of AI
Parents can take concrete steps to protect their children:
- Disable or limit AI features in Meta apps.
- Tighten privacy settings across all Meta platforms.
- Use parental control tools to monitor and manage screen time.
- Set up supervised accounts for experimentation.
- Talk openly about AI, teaching kids how chatbots work and what’s safe to share.
- Combining technical safeguards with education is essential. Meta may have reversed its policies, but the risk remains real.
Meta’s AI flirtation with minors shows that society isn’t ready for the emotional complexities AI can create. This incident is a call to action for parents and policymakers and tech companies. We need to treat AI with the same scrutiny we would any new influence in a child’s life. Engagement cannot come at the cost of safety.
