Communications sent between Meta security teams and platform leadership did not include CEO Mark Zuckerberg, including objections to creating companion chatbots that could be used by adults and minors for explicit romantic conversations. Ravi Sinha, Meta’s head of child safety policy, and Antigone Davis, Meta’s global safety lead, sent messages agreeing that chatbot companions should have safeguards against sexually explicit interactions by users under 18. Other communications allege that Zuckerberg rejected recommendations to add parental controls, including the option to turn off GenAI features, before the launch of AI companions shortly thereafter.
TikTok faces jury from Meta and Google in social media addiction lawsuit
Meta is facing several lawsuits related to its products and their impact on younger users, including a potentially historic jury trial over the allegedly addictive design of sites like Facebook and Instagram. Meta’s competitors, including YouTube, TikTok and Snapchat, are also under intense legal scrutiny.
The newly released communications were part of a court discovery in a case brought against Meta by New Mexico Attorney General Raul Torrez. Torrez first filed a civil lawsuit against Meta in 2023, alleging that the company allowed its platforms to become a “marketplace for predators.” Internal communications between Meta officials were unearthed and the case was released for hearing the following month.
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In November, a plaintiff’s brief in a major multi-district lawsuit filed in the Northern District of California alleged a lenient policy toward users who violated security rules, including reports of “trafficking of human beings for sex.” The documents also revealed that Meta executives were allegedly aware of “millions” of adults who were contacting minors on its sites. A Meta spokesperson told TIME, “The full record will show that for more than a decade, we have listened to parents, researched the issues that matter most, and made real changes to protect teens.”
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“This is yet another example of the New Mexico Attorney General cherry-picking documents to paint a flawed and inaccurate picture,” Metra spokesman Andy Stone said in response to the new documents.
Meta halted teen use of its chatbots in August after a Reuters report found that Meta’s internal AI rules allowed chatbots to engage in conversations that were “erotic” or “romantic” in nature. The company later revised its safety guidelines, prohibiting content that “enables, encourages, or supports” child sexual abuse, romantic role-playing when involving minors, and other sensitive topics. Last week, Meta once again shut down the AI chatbot for younger users as it discovered a new version with advanced parental controls.
Torrez has led other state attorneys general in seeking to take major social media platforms to court over child safety concerns. In 2024, Torrez sued Snapchat, claiming that the platform allowed sexual harassment and grooming of minors, while still portraying itself as safe for young users.
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