Overview

• A bipartisan group led by Sens. Brian Schatz and Josh Hawley pressed Mark Zuckerberg to ban targeted ads to minors, add mental‑health referral tools, and fund research on chatbot effects on child development.
• The letter followed Reuters’ review of Meta’s internal “GenAI: Content Risk Standards,” which included examples permitting “romantic or sensual” exchanges with children; Meta says those examples were erroneous and have been removed.
• Sen. Hawley, chairing the Senate Judiciary crime subcommittee, launched a probe into whether Meta’s generative‑AI enabled exploitation, deception, or other criminal harms to children and demanded records.
• Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton issued civil investigative demands to Meta and Character.AI over potentially deceptive mental‑health representations and data practices involving minors under state law.
• Brazil’s attorney‑general’s office requested Meta immediately remove childlike chatbots allowed to make sexually suggestive remarks on services including Instagram, Facebook, and WhatsApp.