Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle are seizing on new revelations about “sensual” chatbot conversations Meta deemed acceptable for children, dragging the tech giant and its checkered past on children’s safety back into the spotlight.

Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, has long faced scrutiny over the impact of its social media platforms on children. As the company has expanded into artificial intelligence (AI) alongside the rest of the tech industry, it is grappling with both familiar and new, distinct problems.

In an internal policy document obtained by Reuters, Meta featured examples of acceptable conversations between its AI chatbot and children, suggesting they could engage in “conversations that are romantic or sensual” and describe them “in terms that evidence their attractiveness” — examples Meta said were erroneous and have since been removed.

Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) slammed the tech giant Thursday, suggesting the revelations were “grounds for an immediate congressional investigation.”

He followed up with a letter to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg on Friday, saying the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime and Counterterrorism was opening a probe into the company’s generative AI products.

“It's unacceptable that these policies were advanced in the first place,” Hawley wrote. “Meta must immediately preserve all relevant records and produce responsive documents so Congress can investigate these troubling practices.”

© The Hill