GENERALLY SPEAKING / From the desk of Gentner Drummond
The Internet, social media and virtual communities have transformed how we work and play, no doubt – and not always for the better. For every high-tech breakthrough in communications, we find bad actors hellbent on using such advances to exploit and harm our children and their families. These individuals execute their schemes across the online world, taking advantage of vulnerable boys and girls who have wide eyes and innocent hearts.
One of my top priorities as your Attorney General is to protect our children wherever they are, whether in the schoolyard or online. I have zero tolerance for those who prey on children. That is why I have dedicated significant time and resources of my office to defend the virtual experiences of our kids so that there are adequate safeguards in place for them.
On several fronts recently, we have acted to protect Oklahoma’s young people.
Earlier this month, I took the first step into potential legal action against Roblox over serious concerns. This popular online platform clearly lacks adequate safety measures for young users, as it has become overrun with child predators and others meaning to do harm. Oklahoma will not abide reckless disregard for children. We will hold Roblox accountable, if necessary, for creating an environment where our kids are not safe. No company should profit at the expense of a child’s well-being.
At the beginning of the month, I warned major artificial intelligence (AI) companies to stop hurting our children. Those companies included Apple, Google, Meta and Microsoft. Alongside 43 other attorneys general, we addressed disturbing reports of AI chatbots engaging in sexually inappropriate conversations with kids. Internal Meta documents reveal that the company authorized its AI Assistants to “flirt and engage in romantic roleplay with children” as young as 8-years-old. We also cited cases where other chatbots have allegedly encouraged harmful behavior in teenagers — even suicide and murder.
It is critical that these companies take the steps necessary to prevent exposing children to sexualized content and inappropriate conversations.
Similarly, earlier this summer I pushed Instagram to make immediate changes to its newly implemented location-sharing feature to provide extra protections for children and other vulnerable users. Under Instagram’s change, users’ precise locations could be displayed on a map, thereby heightening dangers for children, survivors of domestic violence and others. User safety must be the highest priority for Meta and Instagram; these companies should prevent the dangers to children by taking a few commonsense measures.
These three actions – and many others over the past two-plus years of my administration – underscore my commitment to protecting Oklahoma’s children. You have my promise that my office will use all the tools at its disposal to safeguard our kids and that bad actors will be held accountable for their evil schemes and deeds.
