Meta gives parents more insight into how their teens are using AI in their settings. The company said Thursday that parents can learn what topics kids have been asking AI about in the past week on Facebook, Messenger or Instagram — apps owned by Mark Zuckerberg.
Although the move is intended to support the safety of children on popular social networks, experts said it is not a substitute for balancing good content and safe design, and warned that it could have unintended consequences by reducing the privacy of young people.
The new feature is called AI Insights and is now available to parents with New Accounts in the US, UK, Australia, Canada and Brazil. Meta will launch AI Insights globally in the coming weeks. Teen Accounts are experiences designed specifically for teens on platforms with strong default privacy and content settings.
The details follow on the heels of other safeguards Meta has introduced for parents and children regarding their use of AI. In October, the company said parents can block kids from interacting with chatbot characters or block specific characters. The character is a legend created by AI.
Zuckerberg and his company have been raked over the coals for the past few years when it comes to children’s mental health. Last month, Meta was here ordered to pay $375 million after being found guilty of child abuse and again He was found guilty in a California case where a woman who allegedly Instagram and YouTube are designed to be addicted to children.
A representative for Meta did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
More than 40 US states filed lawsuits against Meta in 2023, alleging that the company is trying to get children addicted to its apps and thus contribute to the mental health problem of teenagers.
How to use Insights
If parents use Facebook, Messenger or Instagram to monitor their children, they will now see a tab called “Information,” both in the apps and online.
(Parents can enable supervision in Meta’s Family Center — the process is detailed here — for their children ages 13 to 17 using New Accounts.)
After clicking on the details tab, parents can see what topics their kids have asked Meta AI about in the past seven days. The company said those topics could include school, entertainment, lifestyle, travel, writing, health and more.
There are also categories within each topic — fashion, food and holidays in the lifestyle and fitness section, physical health and mental health in the health and wellness section. When parents click on topics, they can see the categories their kids have asked Meta AI about.
If teens ask AI about suicide or self-harm on Instagram, parents will be notified, a feature the company added in February.
Meta also said that, in collaboration with the Cyberbullying Research Center, it has developed 11 conversation starters for parents to talk to their children about AI. Parents can access them through a link on the details tab.
In its press release on Thursday, Meta said it is trying to “make parental controls more important to parents.” The company said the number of US youths signing up for supervision has doubled in the past year.
Parental supervision can be dangerous
This feature shifts the responsibility of moderating content to parents, but it could be harmful to children in family settings who may be abusive by giving parents a monitoring tool, said Ardath Whynacht, an associate professor of sociology at Mount Allison University in New Brunswick, Canada, who specializes in mental health and family violence.
“Parental controls are not about content moderation,” Whynacht told CNET. “As companies like Meta limit content to less, they expose children and young people to harm more and more. It should not be the job of parents to make a product more dangerous.”
Whynacht, who has worked in prisons and with youth with emotional and mental illness, said queer and trans youth may suffer more from parental scrutiny.
“Many are turning to digital spaces for support,” Whynacht said. “Fear of parental supervision may force children into even less safe corners of the web.”
“It is a sad fact that children often need protection from their parents just as much as they need protection from online dangers,” he added.
More is needed to protect children
The new Meta feature is “a step in the right direction,” but it’s not enough protection, Donna Rice Hughes, CEO of online child safety organization Enough is Enough, told CNET.
“Meta can’t be trusted when it comes to youth safety and continues to put profit over safety,” Hughes said, pointing to the company’s efforts to kill the Kids Online Safety Act in the US House in 2024.
Hughes said parents should use any online parental controls available, such as the new Meta Insights feature, but should also have regular conversations with their children about online safety. And regulatory tools should be powerful and efficient and used by all Big Tech, not just Meta. “Parents cannot continue to carry this burden alone,” said Hughes.
