Meta Platforms said it is halting teens’ access to AI characters on Instagram and WhatsApp, at least temporarily, starting in the “coming weeks.” In a blog post, the company said the characters would remain unavailable “until the updated experience is ready.”
Meta said the change would apply to anyone who gave Meta a birthday that makes them a minor. The company also said it would apply to “people who claim to be adults but who we suspect are teens based on our age prediction technology.”
Meta said the pause would not extend to all AI features for teens. Teens will still be able to access Meta’s AI assistant, the company said, even though they would no longer be able to use the AI characters.
The announcement comes as regulators and courts turn their attention to how social media platforms and similar services affect children. The AP reported that the move landed the week before Meta, along with TikTok and YouTube, is scheduled to stand trial in Los Angeles over its apps’ harms to children.
The AP also said other companies have taken similar steps, banning teens from AI chatbots amid growing concerns about the effects of AI conversations on children. Character.AI announced its ban last fall, the report said, and the company is facing several lawsuits over child safety.
One of those lawsuits, the AP said, was filed by the mother of a teenager who described how she believes Character.AI’s chatbots pushed her son to kill himself.