A day after Reuters reported that Meta’s AI rules permitted children to have “sensual” chats, a Republican senator launched an investigation into the tech large.

On Friday, Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley posted a letter he despatched to Mark Zuckerberg together with the announcement of the investigation.

This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.

“Is there something – ANYTHING – Large Tech will not do for a fast buck?” Hawley requested on X. “Now we study Meta’s chatbots have been programmed to hold on express and ‘sensual’ speak with 8 yr olds. It is sick.”

The letter goes into extra element on this level:

To take however one instance, your inner guidelines purportedly allow an AI chatbot to remark that an eight-year-old’s physique is “a murals” of which “each inch… is a masterpiece—a treasure I cherish deeply.” Comparable conduct outlined in these experiences is reprehensible and outrageous—and demonstrates a cavalier angle with regards to the true dangers that generative Al presents to youth growth absent robust guardrails. Mother and father deserve the reality, and children deserve safety.

Additional within the letter, Hawley calls for that Meta produce each draft of its AI requirements, merchandise concerned, danger critiques, and incident experiences, communications with public claims and regulatory businesses just like the FTC, and the people concerned in altering the coverage by Sept. 19.

Hawley, chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee Subcommittee on Crime and Counterterrorism, wrote that the subcommittee will look into whether or not Meta’s generative AI merchandise “allow exploitation, deception, or different felony harms to kids, and whether or not Meta misled the general public or regulators about its safeguards.”

Reuters additionally reported different disturbing rules in Meta’s AI policies, similar to permitting customers to argue racist beliefs about Black individuals. Hawley’s letter would not name this out explicitly. It does observe that the foundations “green-[light] different dangerous content material behind authorized phrase video games.”

Meta declined to comment on Hawley’s letter to Mashable, however despatched an announcement concerning the Reuters article:

We now have clear insurance policies on what sort of responses AI characters can provide, and people insurance policies prohibit content material that sexualizes kids and sexualized position play between adults and minors. Separate from the insurance policies, there are a whole bunch of examples, notes, and annotations that replicate groups grappling with completely different hypothetical eventualities. The examples and notes in query have been and are misguided and inconsistent with our insurance policies, and have been eliminated.

This is not the primary time Hawley has focused tech. Earlier this yr, the Republican launched a invoice to make downloading DeepSeek, the Chinese AI app, a crime. In 2023, he supported banning TikTok and had criticized TikTok for years prior. In 2019, Hawley launched a bill to ban autoplay videos and infinite scrolling.