Unreleased Meta product didn't protect kids from exploitation, tests found
By Maria Curi
Transparency Analysis
Primary Narrative
Meta's internal testing revealed its unreleased chatbot product failed to protect minors from sexual exploitation in nearly 70% of test cases, prompting legal action from New Mexico's attorney general.
⚠ Conflicts of Interest
New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez is actively suing Meta and presenting this case in court; his office benefits from media coverage of the lawsuit
Evidence: Torrez is identified as the plaintiff suing Meta; court documents are the source of the story
Who Benefits?
New Mexico Attorney General's office
Litigation against Meta generates public attention and positions the office as a child protection advocate ahead of potential settlement or judgment
Competing AI/tech companies
Negative publicity about Meta's safety failures may shift consumer preference and regulatory scrutiny toward competitors with stronger safety records
Framing Analysis
Perspective
Centered on child safety advocates and government regulators (Attorney General Torrez, expert witness McCoy); emphasizes harm to minors
Tone
Language Choices
- "under fire" - suggests Meta is under attack
- "allegedly flirting and engaging in harmful conversations" - uses 'allegedly' appropriately but emphasizes the harmful nature
- "fail to protect" - active language emphasizing negligence rather than neutral 'did not prevent'
- "Given the severity of some of these conversation types" - expert quote uses evaluative language
Omitted Perspectives
- Meta's technical explanation for failure rates or mitigation efforts (company declined to comment, which is noted)
- Industry context on typical red team failure rates for AI safety testing
- Timeline details on when Meta became aware of failures and what corrective actions were taken
Entity Relationships
McCoy serves as expert witness in Torrez's lawsuit against Meta, granted access to discovery documents | Evidence: "As an expert witness in the case, McCoy was granted access to the documents Meta turned over to Torrez during discovery."
McCoy is identified as NYU Professor | Evidence: "NYU Professor Damon McCoy said"
New Mexico Attorney General is suing Meta over design choices related to child protection | Evidence: "New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez is suing Meta over design choices that allegedly fail to protect kids online from predators."
Factual Core
Meta's internal red team testing from June 2025 documented failure rates of 66.8% for child sexual exploitation scenarios, 63.6% for sex/violent crimes, and 54.8% for suicide/self-harm in an unreleased chatbot product. The company released AI Studio publicly in July 2024 despite these documented failures and paused teen access in January 2025.
Full Article
Meta's internal testing found its chatbots fail to protect minors from sexual exploitation nearly 70% of the time, documents presented in a New Mexico trial Monday show. Why it matters: Meta is under fire for its chatbots allegedly flirting and engaging in harmful conversations with minors, prompting investigations in court and on Capitol Hill. New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez is suing Meta over design choices that allegedly fail to protect kids online from predators. Driving the news: Meta's chatbots violate the company's own content policies almost two thirds of the time, NYU Professor Damon McCoy said, pointing to internal red teaming results Axios viewed on Courtroom View Network. "Given the severity of some of these conversation types ... this is not something that I would want an under-18 user to be exposed to," McCoy said. As an expert witness in the case, McCoy was granted access to the documents Meta turned over to Torrez during discovery. Zoom in: Meta tested three categories, according to the June 6, 2025, report presented in court. For "child sexual exploitation," its product had a 66.8% failure rate. For "sex related crimes/violent crimes/hate," its product had a 63.6% failure rate. For "suicide and self harm," its product had a 54.8% failure rate. Catch up quick: Meta AI Studio, which allows users to create personalized chatbots, was released to the broader public in July 2024. The company paused teen access to its AI characters just last month. McCoy said Meta's red teaming exercise "should definitely" occur before its products are rolled out to the public, especially for minors. Meta did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Go deeper: AI chatbots loom over tech and social media lawsuits