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FTC orders seven firms to explain how AI companion chatbots protect children
The FTC voted 3-0 to issue 6(b) study orders to Alphabet, Character Technologies, Instagram, Meta, OpenAI, Snap and xAI. The orders seek information on how the companies monetise engagement, design and approve characters, test for harms before and after launch, limit risks to minors, enforce age rules and handle data from user conversations.
Why it matters
It put the largest consumer chatbot providers on notice that companion features and teen use are a federal consumer-protection priority, ahead of state companion-chatbot laws taking effect.
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Connections our researchers recorded
- DevelopmentCharacter.AI and Google agree to settle lawsuits over teen suicides and self-harm7 Jan 2026 · Enforcement or ruling · USLed to: Character.AI was one of the seven firms already under FTC study over minors' safety.
What led here
Earlier developments on the same thread
- DevelopmentIllinois bars AI from delivering therapy without a licensed professional1 Aug 2025 · Rule change · US-IL, US
What happened next
Later developments on the same thread
- DevelopmentTrump executive order targets state AI laws with litigation and funding pressure11 Dec 2025 · Policy · US
- DevelopmentWhite House sends Congress AI framework calling for preemption of state laws20 Mar 2026 · Policy · US
- DevelopmentFTC begins enforcing TAKE IT DOWN Act's 48-hour removal duty for intimate deepfakes19 May 2026 · Enforcement or ruling · US
- DevelopmentCalifornia enacts SB 1119 requiring child-safety risk assessments for companion chatbots10 Sep 2026 · Rule change · US-CA
Same story elsewhere
What other countries and bodies did on this
- DevelopmentOfcom opens Online Safety Act probe into X over Grok sexualised deepfakes12 Jan 2026 · Enforcement or ruling · GB, EU
- DevelopmentChina issues companion-AI rules banning virtual partners for minors10 Apr 2026 · Rule change · CN
- DevelopmentNHS England updates AI scribe guidance and launches supplier registry2 Apr 2026 · Policy · GB
- DevelopmentEU Digital Omnibus on AI enters force, delaying high-risk AI Act duties to 2027-2827 Jul 2026 · Rule change · EU
Rules in play
Laws and guidance this touches
- RuleSB 243US-CA · In force · 13 Oct 2025
- RuleCrime and Policing Act 2026 (nudification tools, AI CSAM generators)GB · Partly in force · 29 Apr 2026
- RuleBill C-36 (privacy reform)CA · Proposed · 15 Jun 2026
- RuleOMB M-25-22US · In force · 3 Apr 2025
- RuleFDA PCCP guidanceUS · In force · 4 Dec 2024
Threads by topic: Children and teens Privacy Courts and liability