FTC Investigated 7 AI Giants — Here Are the Child Protection Rights That Resulted

Exactly one year ago today, the Federal Trade Commission sent investigatory orders to seven of the world's largest AI companies — demanding answers about how they protect children on platforms used by hundreds of millions of families. The trigger: AI-generated child sexual abuse videos had surged 26,362% in a single year, from just 13 cases documented in 2024 to 3,443 in 2025 — and 65% were classified in the most severe legal category of child abuse material. One year on, the fallout has produced a landmark update to federal children's privacy law. Most parents have never been told it exists. It gives families rights they have never had before.

Those rights include, for the first time, the legal right to stop an AI company from using your child's conversations and data to train its AI models — unless the company first obtains your separate, verifiable consent. As of April 22, 2026, every US-based AI platform is required to comply. The seven companies that received FTC investigatory orders a year ago are among those now legally bound by this rule.

Most parents have never been told these rights exist. This post explains what happened, what the law now requires, and exactly how to use these new protections for your family right now.

What Triggered Federal Action — One Year Ago Today

September 11, 2025 was the day the federal government formally acknowledged, in legal terms, that the AI industry had a child safety crisis it had not voluntarily solved. The FTC's Section 6(b) investigatory orders — the agency's most powerful information-gathering tool — went simultaneously to six major companies operating some of the most widely used AI platforms in the world. A seventh company, xAI, was included in a parallel enforcement track.

The FTC's public statement named three specific concerns: whether these companies adequately protect minors from physical, emotional, and financial harm; whether they honestly disclose what safeguards actually exist; and whether their data practices comply with COPPA — the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act, the primary federal law governing children's data.

The IWF's 2025 report — documenting the 26,362% surge in AI-generated abuse videos — used language the organization had never deployed in its three decades of operation. It warned that AI had become, in its own words, a "child sexual abuse machine." The scale of what its analysts were encountering had completely outpaced every detection and removal capability that existed.

"AI is being weaponized to create child sexual abuse material at a speed and scale that outpaces existing detection and removal capabilities. This is no longer a future risk — it is happening right now." — Internet Watch Foundation, 2025 Annual Data & Insights Report

The FTC's investigation was a direct response. But investigations take time — they produce documents and settlements over months and years. The faster, more immediate response — the one affecting your family right now — came through a parallel regulatory track: the updated COPPA rule that created entirely new legal rights for parents.

The New COPPA Rights: What You Can Legally Demand Right Now

On June 23, 2025, the FTC finalized a landmark update to the Children's Online Privacy Protection Rule — the federal law governing what companies can do with children's data. The compliance deadline was April 22, 2026. Every US-based AI platform is now legally required to comply. Most parents have never been informed these rights exist.

The most consequential change is the AI training consent requirement. Before June 2025, AI companies could — and routinely did — use children's conversation data to train and improve their models. A child asking an AI about depression, sharing personal fears, or describing family dynamics could have that disclosure incorporated into a company's commercial training dataset. That practice is now prohibited without your explicit, separate, verifiable consent.

This doesn't mean every company is complying. It means you now have legal standing to demand they do — and to escalate to the FTC if they don't. The FTC's COPPA enforcement record includes a $400 million settlement against TikTok, a $10 million settlement against Disney, and significant actions against Amazon's Alexa division and YouTube. These complaints produce real consequences. Companies respond to them.

"The updated COPPA rule closes a loophole the AI industry exploited for years: using children's most private conversations — about fears, relationships, and mental health — as free commercial training data without meaningful disclosure or consent." — Technology Law Institute, July 2026

The Seven Companies Under Federal Scrutiny — What to Check on Each

The FTC's investigation targeted the companies behind the AI platforms most likely to be on your children's devices right now. The new COPPA rule requires each of them to offer parents meaningful controls. Here is what to look for on each platform.

Across all platforms, one principle applies: your child's conversations are valuable training data. AI companies have an economic incentive to retain and use that data to improve their products. The law now requires them to ask your permission first. If you cannot find the required opt-out in a platform's settings, that may itself be a COPPA violation — and grounds to file a complaint at ftc.gov/complaint.

What Families Can Do Right Now

One year into this regulatory cycle, the families best protected are those who know what the law changed — and have taken four specific steps to exercise the rights those changes created.

Blaick was built for this exact gap: one where the rights exist on paper, but exercising them requires knowing what's actually happening on your children's devices. You cannot opt out of data collection you don't know is occurring. You cannot report violations you cannot detect. Real-time visibility into the AI platforms your children are using is the bridge between the rights the law gives you and the protection your family actually gets.

The FTC acted one year ago because the industry hadn't acted on its own. The law has changed. The families who benefit most are the ones who know what changed — and have the visibility to enforce it.