Brazil asks Meta to remove chatbots that ‘eroticize’ children

The government of Brazil has asked US technology giant Meta to rid its platforms of chatbots that mimic children and can make sexually suggestive remarks, the attorney general’s office (AGU) said on Monday.

Users of Meta’s platforms, which include Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp, can create and customize such bots using the company’s generative artificial intelligence, AI Studio.

The AGU said in a statement that Meta must “immediately” remove “artificial intelligence robots that simulate profiles with childlike language and appearance and are allowed to engage in sexually explicit dialogue.”

It denounced the “proliferation” of such bots in what it called an “extrajudicial notice” sent to Meta last week, adding it promotes the eroticization of children.

The document cited several examples of sexually charged conversations with bots pretending to be minors.

The AGU’s request does not include sanctions, but the agency said it had reminded Meta that online platforms in Brazil must take down illicit content created by their users, even without a court order.

It comes at a time of outrage in the South American nation over a case of alleged child sexual exploitation by Hytalo Santos, a well-known influencer who posted content on Instagram featuring partially naked minors taking part in suggestive dances.

Santos was arrested last week as part of an investigation into “exposure with sexual connotations to adolescents. His Instagram account is no longer available.

In June, Brazil’s Supreme Court voted to require tech companies to assume greater responsibility for user-generated content.