MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Brazil: Meta ordered to remove controversial content from platforms

The “eroticization of children” is on the rise, it was argued

Brazil's Attorney General's Office (FGR) has formally requested that Meta - owner of social media platforms WhatsApp, Instagram, and Facebook - immediately remove chatbots that use childlike language and appearances to engage in sexual conversations. These chatbots, created using the “Meta AI Studio” tool, are considered a “concrete risk to the psychological integrity of children and adolescents.”

The FGR's request cites a recent Supreme Federal Court (STF) ruling holding social media platforms responsible for illegal content if they fail to remove it promptly. The action follows public outrage in Brazil over a case of alleged child sexual exploitation involving prominent influencer Hytalo Santos, who was arrested on Aug. 15 as part of an investigation by the Paraiba State Prosecutor's Office for “exposure with sexual connotations” to adolescents.

The FGR also requested Meta to “clarify what measures are being taken, including within Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, to ensure the protection of children and adolescents, including actions to prevent them from accessing sexual or erotic content.”

“The so-called chatbots were created with the 'Meta AI Studio' tool, available on the company's platforms, and can use artificial intelligence to simulate a dialogue with social media users,” the FGR noted.

The situation “poses a concrete risk to the psychological integrity of children and adolescents, in addition to causing institutional damage and hindering the effective exercise of the right to comprehensive protection provided for in Article 227 of the Federal Constitution,” it further stressed.

Meta's digital platforms are open to anyone over the age of 13, with no age filter to control whether users between the ages of 13 and 18 are accessing inappropriate content, as the “eroticization of children” is on the rise.

The FGR thus acquiesced to an initiative from the Presidency's Secretariat of Social Communication.