Meta pauses teen access to AI characters globally

Meta announced today that it is pausing teens’ access to its AI characters globally across all its apps. The company is not abandoning the feature but plans to develop an updated version of AI characters for teens, Meta exclusively told TechCrunch.

The pause comes ahead of a trial in New Mexico, where Meta is accused of not making an effort to protect kids from sexual exploitation on its apps. Additionally, Wired reported on Thursday that Meta has sought to limit discovery—the legal process of exchanging information between parties in a lawsuit—related to social media’s impact on teen mental health. Meta is also facing a separate trial next week, where the platform is accused of causing social media addiction. CEO Mark Zuckerberg is expected to take the witness stand in that case once the trial begins.

When Meta rolls out the new version, the AI characters will be accessible to everyone, not just teens, and will include built-in parental controls—features allowing guardians to monitor or restrict teen activity. In October, the company previewed parental controls that would allow guardians to monitor topics, block access to certain characters, or turn off chats entirely. During the same month, Meta also rolled out parental control features on Instagram, focusing on tailoring the teen experience of interacting with AI on its apps. To implement the pause, Meta will rely on its age prediction technology—systems used to estimate a user’s age. The company stated: “Starting in the coming weeks, teens will no longer be able to access AI characters across our apps until the updated experience is ready. This will apply to anyone who has given us a teen birthday, as well as people who claim to be adults but who we suspect are teens based on our age prediction technology,”

Other AI companies are also modifying their platforms following lawsuits alleging to play a part in aiding self-harm. In October, Character.AI disallowed open-ended conversations with chatbots for users who were under 18, and in November, the startup announced plans to build interactive stories for kids. OpenAI has also recently added new teen safety rules for ChatGPT and started predicting a user’s age to apply content restrictions.

Why it matters

Meta’s decision highlights the growing tension between rapid AI deployment and the legal and regulatory risks associated with teen safety, forcing major platforms to prioritize guardrails over feature velocity.