FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
April 23, 2026

CONTACT:
Ashwin Verghese, [email protected], 508-263-0289

###

Statement on Meta Allowing Parents to See What Topics Their Teens Ask Meta AI About

Fairplay Executive Director Josh Golin released the following statement today:

“Meta is once again putting the burden on parents to monitor and protect their kids rather than building a safe product to begin with. And this change doesn’t address the fundamental problem: The main function of Meta’s chatbots is to manipulate young people into spending more time on the platform by encouraging teens to form unhealthy emotional connections to bots. If Meta really cared about children’s well-being, it would pull the plug on chatbots for minors rather than adding to parents’ already full plates.

“Furthermore, given the company’s history of breaking its promises to protect teens and support parents, there is no reason to take today’s announcement with anything other than a heavy dose of skepticism. As we showed in the ‘Teen Accounts, Broken Promises’ report we co-authored last fall, nearly two-thirds of the safety tools Meta advertised for Instagram Teen Accounts either did not work or were nonexistent.”

###

About Fairplay

Fairplay is the leading nonprofit committed to helping children thrive in an increasingly commercialized, screen-obsessed culture, and the only organization dedicated to ending marketing to children. Fairplay works to enhance children’s well-being by eliminating the exploitative and harmful business practices of marketers and Big Tech. Learn more at www.fairplayforkids.org.