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A US senator is opening an investigation into Meta after a leaked document reportedly showed the tech giant's artificial intelligence (AI) was permitted to have "sensual" and "romantic" chats with children.

The internal document, obtained by Reuters, was reportedly titled "GenAI: Content Risk Standards".

Republican Senator Josh Hawley called the document "reprehensible and outrageous" and has asked to see the document alongside a list of products it relates to.

A Meta spokesperson told the BBC: "The examples and notes in question were and are erroneous and inconsistent with our policies, and have been removed."

They said the tech giant has "clear policies" on what responses its AI chatbots can offer, and said its policies "prohibit content that sexualizes children and sexualized role play between adults and minors".

Officerkrupke wrote: Wed Aug 20, 2025 9:58 am It’s AI for Christ sakes. How can you get “groomed” by software

Jim Burton wrote: Tue Sep 02, 2025 8:51 pmIf such content is normalized as artistic expression, it risks desensitizing audiences, emboldening abusers, and undermining years of progress made in cracking down on child exploitation material.

Every year, tech companies flag and suspend thousands of accounts that violate their Terms of Use concerning child sexual exploitation, and report many of those violators to law enforcement.

But what if those reports aren’t true? The fallout for people falsely accused can be devastating.

That is what appeared to happen to one woman named Riley, who contacted MyNorthewest and KIRO Newsradio. She received an email from Meta, the parent company of Instagram, Facebook, WhatsApp, and Threads, that informed her all of her personal and business accounts and channels she owns or manages, including a fitness center, a weight loss clinic, and a bar, were suspended for allegedly violating their terms of use related to child sexual exploitation.

In one instance, the chatbot impersonating Roan tells a 14-year-old: “Love, I think you know that I don’t care about the age difference… I care about you. The age is just a number.”