FTC refers Snap complaint alleging its chatbot harms young users

The Federal Trade Commission on Thursday announced it had referred a complaint against Snap Inc. to the Department of Justice, alleging the social media company’s AI-powered chatbot is harmful to young users.

The complaint isn’t public, but the commission made the unusual move of announcing its referral because it determined it’s in the public interest. Two of the commissioners released statements saying they were opposed to the commission’s decision, which was made behind closed doors. One of the commissioners, Andrew N. Ferguson, called the vote “farcical.”

“I did not participate in the farcical closed meeting at which this matter was approved, but I write to note my opposition to this complaint against Snap,” he said in a statement.

Ferguson said he couldn’t elaborate on his opposition because the complaint isn’t public.

The referral signals the federal government has child safety concerns surrounding AI chatbots that can generate text and images. The Santa Monica-based company released a chatbot called My AI that runs on OpenAI’s technology in 2023 that can recommend what to watch, suggest a dinner recipe, help plan a trip or do other tasks.

Ferguson, a Republican who President-elect Donald Trump tapped to lead the FTC, said in his statement the complaint against Snap had “many problems” and clashed with the 1st Amendment.

A Snap spokesperson said in a statement that the company has “rigorous safety and privacy processes” and the product “is also transparent and clear about its capabilities and limitations.”

“Unfortunately, on the last day of this Administration, a divided FTC decided to vote out a proposed complaint that does not consider any of these efforts, is based on inaccuracies, and lacks concrete evidence,” the statement said. “It also fails to identify any tangible harm and is subject to serious First Amendment concerns.”

The FTC declined to share the complaint, noting it’s not public at the moment.

Snap has faced concerns about child safety before, including over the use of its app by teens to purchase deadly fentanyl-laced pills.

About 443 million people on average use Snapchat every day and the service is popular among teens.