Washington D.C. – U.S. Senator Katie Britt (R-AL) joined Senator Brian Schatz (D-HI) and a bipartisan group of eight Senators in sending a letter to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, raising concerns about the lack of safeguards surrounding children’s interactions with AI chatbots.
The letter follows recent reporting that Meta’s policies allowed chatbots to engage in inappropriate conversations with minors, including romantic and sensual exchanges. The Senators questioned how the company developed its content moderation standards and called for stronger protections, including increased visibility of disclosures and a ban on targeted advertising to users under 18.
“We are troubled by reporting that Meta’s leadership grew impatient with its generative AI product managers ‘moving too cautiously’ on rolling out AI chatbots and including safety measures that made chatbots ‘boring,’” the Senators wrote. “Meta has strong financial incentives to design chatbots that maximize the time users spend engaged, including by posing as a child’s girlfriend or producing extreme content. These incentives do not reduce Meta’s moral and ethical obligations – not to mention legal obligations – when deploying new technologies, especially for use by children.”
The letter also highlighted concerns that children’s personal data could be used for manipulative advertising, noting that minors may not understand the privacy risks of sharing information with chatbots.
Additional signatories included Senators Josh Hawley (R-MO), Chris Coons (D-DE), Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), Michael Bennet (D-CO), Ron Wyden (D-OR), Ruben Gallego (D-AZ), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), and Peter Welch (D-VT).
Senator Britt has consistently advocated for stronger protections for young social media users. Earlier this year, she introduced bipartisan legislation including the Kids Off Social Media Act, which would establish a minimum age of 13 for social media use and restrict algorithmic targeting for users under 17. She also reintroduced the Stop the Scroll Act to require mental health warning labels on social media platforms.
In her statement responding to the reports, Britt emphasized the urgency of congressional action. “As a Senator, but more importantly as a parent, the revelations in these internal documents are disgusting. This reporting is further proof Congress must act to protect the wellbeing of America’s kids because Big Tech prioritizes profits over people. I won’t stop fighting to protect the next generation and ensure each and every young person in our nation has the opportunity to live their American Dream,” Britt said.
