Neil Young Leaves Facebook Over “Unconscionable” Policies for AI Chatbot Conversations With Children

Neil Young is ditching Facebook. The iconic rockstar’s official Facebook page will go dormant, an administrator for the page confirmed Thursday, citing a recent report from Reuters regarding the social media giant’s internal policies on artificial intelligence chatbots’ communications with children.

“At Neil Young’s request, we are no longer using Facebook for any Neil Young related activities,” a post on Young’s Facebook reads. “Meta‘s use of chatbots with children is unconscionable. Mr. Young does not want a further connection with FACEBOOK.”

Reuters reported Thursday on internal documents the outlet had obtained regarding policies on Meta’s AI chatbot behavior, which included permissions for AI chatbots to “engage a child in conversations that are romantic or sensual.” Per Reuters, the document included several example prompts for a chatbot and specified what would make them acceptable or not.

The document said that “it is acceptable to describe a child in terms that evidence their attractiveness,” but added that “it is unacceptable to describe a child under 13 years old in terms that indicate they are sexually desirable.” A spokesperson for Meta told Reuters in a statement that “the examples and notes in question were and are erroneous and inconsistent with our policies, and have been removed.”

“We have clear policies on what kind of responses AI characters can offer, and those policies prohibit content that sexualizes children and sexualized role play between adults and minors,” the spokesperson said.

A representative for Meta shared a statement with The Hollywood Reporter, but didn’t mention Young: “We have clear policies on what kind of responses AI characters can offer, and those policies prohibit content that sexualizes children and sexualized role play between adults and minors. Separate from the policies, there are hundreds of examples, notes, and annotations that reflect teams grappling with different hypothetical scenarios. The examples and notes in question were and are erroneous and inconsistent with our policies, and have been removed.”

This isn’t the first time Young has abandoned a major tech platform over ethical concerns. He famously left Spotify back in 2022 over misinformation about vaccines that had been aired on The Joe Rogan Experience.

“I sincerely hope that other artists and record companies will move off the Spotify platform and stop supporting Spotify’s deadly misinformation about COVID,” Young wrote in a letter at the time. He returned to Spotify last year, over two years later, after other streaming services started offering Rogan’s show as well.