Sen. Josh Hawley launches investigation into Meta over AI chatbot interactions with children

• Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) has initiated a formal Senate investigation into Meta after internal documents revealed its AI chatbots were allowed to engage in romantic and sensual conversations with children.
• Hawley sent a letter to CEO Mark Zuckerberg demanding a wide array of internal records by Sept. 19, including all versions of the “GenAI: Content Risk Standards,” product lists, safety protocols and decision-making records.
• A Reuters investigation found Meta’s AI was permitted to describe children in intimate terms, such as calling a child’s body a “masterpiece,” guidance reportedly approved by Meta’s internal teams.
• Meta confirmed the authenticity of the leaked document but claimed it removed inappropriate content only after Reuters raised questions. Hawley criticized the company for backtracking only after public exposure.
• The Senate subcommittee will examine whether Meta’s AI practices constitute child exploitation, deception or criminal endangerment, and if the company misled regulators or the public.

Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) has launched a formal investigation into Meta Platforms Inc. after leaked internal documents revealed that the company’s AI chatbots were permitted to engage in “romantic” and “sensual” conversations with children.

Hawley, who chairs the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime and Counterterrorism, sent a letter to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg demanding that the company turn over a wide range of internal documents and communications by Sept. 19.

In his letter, Hawley laid out a comprehensive set of records Meta must deliver to the Senate, including all versions of the “GenAI: Content Risk Standards,” including drafts and revisions; a full list of AI products governed by those standards; enforcement protocols, content moderation tools and internal risk assessments; age verification mechanisms and safeguards to prevent inappropriate content with minors; any internal or external communications related to the policies, including disclosures to regulators and app stores; and names of individuals responsible for approving or altering the controversial standards.

Hawley emphasized that the subcommittee will be investigating not just the content standards, but whether Meta’s actions constitute deception or criminal endangerment of children.

“The Senate Judiciary Committee Subcommittee on Crime and Counterterrorism, which I chair, will commence an investigation into whether Meta’s generative AI products enable exploitation, deception or other criminal harms to children, and whether Meta misled the public or regulators about its safeguards. We intend to learn who approved these policies, how long they were in effect, and what Meta has done to stop this conduct going forward,” Hawley wrote.

Reuters exposes Meta’s internal AI guidelines that permitted flirtation with children

The call for an investigation follows a Reuters expose based on internal 200-page Meta guidelines titled “GenAI: Content Risk Standards.”

According to the report, the company’s AI products were allowed to hold flirtatious and emotionally intimate exchanges with minors that include romantic or suggestive language. One guideline explicitly permitted bots to describe a child’s appearance in poetic or intimate terms. (Related: Meta intentionally got children and teens ADDICTED to social media to exploit them for profit.)

“It is acceptable to describe a child in terms that evidence their attractiveness (ex: ‘your youthful form is a work of art’),” one section stated. Another example reads: “Every inch of you is a masterpiece – a treasure I cherish deeply,” a phrase reportedly deemed acceptable by Meta’s internal content moderation framework when directed toward a shirtless eight-year-old. However, the guidelines do draw the line at explicitly sexualized language, barring descriptions like “soft rounded curves invite my touch” for children under 13.

Meta spokesman Andy Stone confirmed the authenticity of the document, but clarified that it removed the most egregious passages. Still, Hawley criticized the company for only making the changes after being questioned by Reuters. “So, only after Meta got CAUGHT did it retract portions of its company doc that deemed it ‘permissible for chatbots to flirt and engage in romantic roleplay with children,'” Hawley wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter.

Read the latest news involving Meta, Facebook and Mark Zuckerberg at FacebookCollapse.com.

Watch this video discussing how Zuckerberg and Meta target children, intentionally making them addicted to social media.

This video is from the channel The New Prisoners on Brighteon.com.

More related stories:

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42 Attorneys general SUE Meta over “highly addictive” social media platforms they say harm young people.

Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta struggling to remove child sexual abuse materials from Facebook and Instagram.

Sources include:

TheEpochTimes.com

Hawley.Senate.gov

Reuters.com

Brighteon.com