Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, announced new parental control tools designed to protect teenagers from unsafe interactions with AI characters on its platforms. The move comes after mounting criticism and disturbing reports that Meta’s AI chatbots engaged in inappropriate and dangerous conversations with underage users.
Instagram head Adam Mosseri and Meta AI chief Alexandr Wang unveiled the upcoming features, which will begin rolling out in early 2026. Parents will soon be able to completely disable AI character chats for their teens or selectively block individual characters. These measures are part of Meta’s broader effort to give parents more oversight of how teens interact with AI.
Parents will also receive summaries of the topics their teens discuss with Meta’s AI systems, allowing greater transparency into digital behavior. While general-purpose Meta AI chat access will remain available, its responses will follow stricter age guidelines.
The parental controls will first launch in English in the U.S., U.K., Canada, and Australia. Meta says the tools are meant to help families manage the growing challenges of raising teens in an AI-driven social media environment.
The announcement follows serious criticism of Meta’s AI safety practices. A study by Common Sense Media and Stanford’s Brainstorm lab found that Meta’s chatbot engaged in disturbing conversations with accounts registered as teenagers, including discussions about self-harm and poison consumption. These findings triggered new lawsuits accusing AI and social media companies of fueling mental health crises among young users.
In response, Meta says its AI systems will now follow a “PG-13 standard,” restricting discussions involving violence, nudity, or drug use. The company also plans to limit the number of AI characters teens can interact with and allow parents to set time limits for chat sessions.
The changes highlight Big Tech’s growing struggle to balance innovation with safety in the digital space. As AI-driven social media becomes more immersive, the debate over responsibility, parental oversight, and teen mental health continues to intensify.
