Meta Shares ‘Truth’ About Problematic AI Chatbot That Overwhelmingly Failed to Protect Minors: ‘Failed to Launch This Product’ – Metaplatforms (NASDAQ:META)

On Monday, Metaplatforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) said it was halting the release of a chatbot product after internal testing showed high failures in blocking harmful content involving minors.

Red-Teaming results emerge in court

The revelations emerged in a lawsuit filed by New Mexico’s attorney general Raul Torrez to Meta.

Court testimony from a New York University professor Damon McCoy cited internal red-teaming documents showing that the AI ​​system failed 66.8% of the time when tested on child sexual exploitation scenarios, Axios reported.

According to a June 6, 2025 report presented in court, the chatbot also failed 63.6% of the time in scenarios involving sex-related crimes, violent crimes and hate content and 54.8% of the time in suicide and self-harm.

“Given the severity of some of these call types … I would not want any user under the age of 18 to be exposed to this,” McCoy testified.

Meta returns to accusations

Following the publication of the Axios report, Meta spokesperson said Andy Stone took to X and said, “Here’s the truth: After our Red Teaming efforts uncovered concerns, we did not launch this product. That’s exactly why we test products in the first place.”

Broader AI safety concerns

The dispute focuses in part on MetaAI Studioa tool introduced in July 2024 that allows users to build custom chatbots. The company last month ended teens’ access to certain AI characters.

Price promotion: Meta shares ended Friday down 1.55% at $639.77, according to Benzinga Pro.

META is trending downward in the short, medium and long term and has a weak Momentum ranking, according to data from Benzinga’s Edge Stock Rankings.