LLM Providers · AI companion / character chatbot · Regulatory action + Private litigation
Character.AI
Headline
Character.AI is the defendant in the first wave of wrongful-death and serious-harm suits brought by families of teenage users.
Not independently verified. Verification status: Unverified - heuristic first draft. Publish state: draft unverified.
Character.AI is the defendant in the first wave of wrongful-death and serious-harm suits brought by families of teenage users. Five cases from Florida, New York, Colorado and Texas settled in January 2026 on undisclosed terms, with no finding of liability. It also faces an FTC study of companion chatbots (Sept 2025) and a May 2026 Pennsylvania state action over bots presenting as licensed medical professionals. It barred under-18 users from open-ended chat in November 2025.
- Severity
- Evidence tierUnassigned
- Claims confirmed
- Last verified2026-10-16
Primary source. www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2025/09/ftc-launches-inquiry-ai-chatbots-acting-companions — Unverified - heuristic first draft.
Terms
Arbitration
Not verified this pass (terms page JS-rendered; content not retrieved).
Data sharing
Privacy policy and terms are JavaScript-rendered and could not be read this pass. Use of chat content for model training, ad sharing and sale disclosures were NOT VERIFIED.
Fees and billing
Paid subscription tier (c.ai+) exists, but terms could not be read. Not verified this pass.
Contacts
Privacy contact. Not recorded.
Legal notice. Not verified this pass.
Mailing address. Not recorded.
Evidence
No claims have been itemized for this row yet.
Sources
| Source | Claim | Tier | Status | Quote |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| regulator · 2025-09-11 www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2025/09/ftc-launches-inquiry-ai-chatbots-acting-companions | whole row | Unassigned | confirmed | “wide-ranging studies that do not have a specific law enforcement purpose” Quote basis: not recorded. |
| news · 2026-01-09 techstrong.ai/articles/ai-chatbot-company-character-ai-settles-lawsuits-over-teen-deaths/ | whole row | Unassigned | confirmed | “The settlements resolve five cases filed in Florida, New York, Colorado, and Texas” Quote basis: not recorded. |
| encyclopedia (lead only) · 2026-10-16 en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Character.ai | whole row | Unassigned | confirmed | “In May 2026, the Pennsylvania Department of State and State Board of Medicine filed a lawsuit against Character.ai” Quote basis: not recorded. |
| blog (secondary) · 2026-06-11 www.softwareseni.com/character-ai-lawsuits-2026-what-happened-what-courts-are-examining-and-why-it-matters | whole row | Unassigned | confirmed | “a federal judge rejected the First Amendment defence in May 2025” Quote basis: not recorded. |
Source vault
Link status: Candidate - not yet fetched
| Document | Last fetch | |
|---|---|---|
| Privacy policy https://character.ai/privacy | Not fetched yet | NOT CONFIRMED |
| Terms of service https://character.ai/tos | Not fetched yet | NOT CONFIRMED |
| Website https://character.ai | Not fetched yet | — |
| Primary source https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2025/09/ftc-launches-inquiry-ai-chatbots-acting-companions Verification: Unverified - heuristic first draft | Not fetched yet | — |
Enforcement
No enforcement actions are linked to this row.
State statute
No HQ state on file, so no state statute applies by headquarters.