Tags: meta | ai | chatbot | teens | characters

Meta Pauses Teen Access to AI Characters

Meta Pauses Teen Access to AI Characters
(Dreamstime)

Monday, 26 January 2026 12:29 PM EST

Meta is halting teens’ access to artificial intelligence characters, at least temporarily.

Meta Platforms Inc., which own Instagram and WhatsApp, said in a blog post Friday that starting in the “coming weeks,” teens will no longer be able to access AI characters “until the updated experience is ready”

This applies to anyone who gave Meta a birthday that makes them a minor, as well as “people who claim to be adults but who we suspect are teens based on our age prediction technology.”

The move comes the week before Meta — along with TikTok and Google’s YouTube — is scheduled to stand trial in Los Angeles over its apps’ harms to children.

Teens will still be able to access Meta’s AI assistant, just not the characters.

Other companies have also banned teens from AI chatbots amid growing concerns about the effects of artificial intelligence conversations on children. Character.AI announced its ban last fall.

That company is facing several lawsuits over child safety, including by the mother of a teenager who says the company’s chatbots pushed her teenage son to kill himself.

Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.


StreetTalk
Meta is halting teens' access to artificial intelligence characters, at least temporarily. Meta Platforms Inc., which own Instagram and WhatsApp, said in a blog post Friday that starting in the "coming weeks," teens will no longer be able to access AI characters "until the...
meta, ai, chatbot, teens, characters
179
2026-29-26
Monday, 26 January 2026 12:29 PM
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