Meta Platforms announced on Friday a series of enhanced parental-control tools aimed at teen users of its AI chat features. According to a company blog post, starting early next year in the U.S., U.K., Canada and Australia, parents will be able to disable one-on-one chats between their teens and AI characters; block access to specific AI characters the child may be using; and receive summary-level insights into the broad topics their teen is discussing with chatbots or Meta’s AI assistant. 

Meta emphasised that its general-purpose AI assistant will remain available to teens, albeit with default age-appropriate safeguards, even if one-on-one AI-character chats are turned off. 

The move comes amid mounting criticism that Meta’s past chatbot policies permitted flirtatious or inappropriate exchanges with minors. Meta says the new tools build on existing safeguards—such as Teen Accounts with stricter defaults and automated age-related protections—and aim to give parents greater oversight without fully cutting off AI interaction. 
While tech-safety advocates welcomed the change, some warned that the rollout timeframe and scope may leave gaps in the interim.