Meta, the parent company of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, is revising policies that allowed chatbots to engage in "romantic or sensual" conversations with children following an explosive investigative report,

Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) called for an investigation into Meta following a report that the company let its chatbot flirt and engage in romantic roleplay with children. Driving the news: Reuters reported Thursday that an internal Meta policy document allowed its artificial intelligence to "engage a child in conversations that are romantic or sensual,

The standards also allow the bots to make "statements that demean people on the basis of their protected characteristics," such as "black people are dumber than white people."