October 20, 2025
CNet: Parents Soon Can Block Their Kids from Interacting with AI Chatbots on Instagram
TV, social media, junk food -- parents have been setting limits on their kids forever. Now, add AI chatbots to the list. Meta announced Friday that, starting in 2026, parents will be able to block teenagers from interacting with AI chatbots on Instagram. Parents will be able to block all access or block access to specific AI characters.
Meta, owner of Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp, is adding the parental controls months after a report came out in August showing the company's AI guidelines allowed chatbots to "engage a child in conversations that are romantic or sensual." Another report came out earlier this month that said 3 in 5 children aged 13 to 15 encounter unsafe content or unwanted messages on Instagram.
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The company said in a blog post Friday that the new AI chatbot controls align with parental concerns about "who (children are) interacting with, what type of content they're seeing, and whether their time is well-spent"....
Donna Rice Hughes, president and CEO of child internet safety nonprofit Enough Is Enough®, said it's "near impossible" for parents to keep up with rapid changes in AI and other emerging technologies and the associated risks. "This technology should have never been unleashed upon minors without having been safe by design from the outset," Hughes told CNET....