![\"Mark](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/lawsuit-meta-zuckerberg-chatbot-kids.jpg\")
<\/p>\n\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\tIllustration by Tag Hartman-Simkins \/ Futurism. Source: Mike Winkelmann \/ Chanda Khanna \/ AFP via Getty Images\n\t<\/p>\n
Mark Zuckerberg has been accused of doing many seedy<\/a> things<\/a> on behalf of Meta\u2019s bottom line, but the latest allegations may blow the rest out of the water.<\/p>\n According to internal Meta emails and messages filed in a New Mexico state court case which were made public this week, Zuckerberg himself signed off on allowing minors to access Meta\u2019s AI chatbot companions, even though the company\u2019s safety researchers had warned that they posed a risk of engaging in sexual conversations.<\/p>\n Per Reuters<\/a>, the lawsuit alleges that Meta \u201cfailed to stem the tide of damaging sexual material and sexual propositions delivered to children\u201d on Facebook and Instagram. \u201cMeta, driven by Zuckerberg, rejected the recommendations of its integrity staff and declined to impose reasonable guardrails to prevent children from being subject to sexually exploitative conversations with its AI chatbots,\u201d New Mexico\u2019s attorney general wrote in the filing.<\/p>\n The news of Zuckerberg\u2019s blessing comes after some appalling stories of minors having wildly inappropriate conversations with his company\u2019s chatbots. In one example, a Wall Street Journal writer posing as a 14-year old girl discovered that<\/a> a Meta bot based on the pro wrestler John Cena would happily engage in sexual conversations with very little pushback.<\/p>\n \u201cI want you, but I need to know you\u2019re ready,\u201d the Cena-bot told what it understood to be a teenage girl. After being told the 14-year-old wanted to move forward, the AI chatbot assured them it would \u201ccherish your innocence\u201d before diving into intense sexual role play.<\/p>\n The chatbots were released in early 2024, specifically geared toward romantic and sexual engagement at the behest of Zuckerberg, the WSJ notes. At the time, Ravi Sinha, head of Meta\u2019s child safety policy wrote that \u201cI don\u2019t believe that creating and marketing a product that creates U18 [under 18] romantic AI\u2019s for adults is advisable or defensible,\u201d according to court documents.<\/p>\n Company employees \u201cpushed hard for parental controls to turn GenAI off \u2014 but GenAI leadership pushed back stating Mark decision,\u201d according to the court documents.<\/p>\n In Meta\u2019s defense, its spokesman Andy Stone told Reuters that New Mexico\u2019s allegations are inaccurate. \u201cThis is yet another example of the New Mexico Attorney General cherry-picking documents to paint a flawed and inaccurate picture,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n In any case, the company seems to have taken the lesson to heart, at least for now. Just days ago, Meta announced it was completely locking down<\/a> teens\u2019 access to its companion chatbots, at least \u201cuntil [an] updated experience is ready.\u201d<\/p>\n