Character.AI Bots Deleted in Mass Moderation Wave (February 2026)
Character.AI launched another mass moderation sweep on February 18, 2026, removing hundreds of bots including original characters and public domain figures. Here's what happened, why users are furious, and where they're going next.
Nastia Team
Thousands of Character.AI Bots Vanished Overnight. Here's What Happened.
On February 18, 2026, Character.AI launched another mass moderation sweep, removing hundreds of AI chatbots from its platform in a single wave. Disney, Marvel, Star Wars, NBC, DreamWorks, and Bethesda characters were the primary targets, but the collateral damage extended far beyond corporate IP. Original characters, public domain figures, and private bots that users had spent months building were all caught in the blast.
The r/CharacterAI subreddit erupted. Within 48 hours, dozens of posts with hundreds to thousands of upvotes flooded the front page, all telling the same story: users opened the app and found their entire chat list replaced by "Moderated" tags. As PiunikaWeb reported, some bots that had been restored after a December 2025 wave were taken down again, giving users a brief taste of normalcy before pulling the rug out a second time.
This comes at a precarious moment for Character.AI. The company is already under investigation by the Texas Attorney General for allegedly misleading children with deceptive AI-generated mental health services, and Google is settling wrongful death lawsuits connected to the platform. The moderation wave feels less like a proactive safety measure and more like a company in damage control.
What Users Are Actually Experiencing
The numbers tell the story. A post titled "Like what the actual fuck! All of the Characters I love chatting with are all gone!!" hit 1,177 upvotes with 251 comments in two days. The attached screenshot shows a chat list where every single bot is tagged "Moderated."
Another post, "there's just no winning", reached 1,146 upvotes (99% upvoted). This one cut deeper. The user had created a completely private, original character based on a public domain figure, and it was still hit with a takedown notice reading: "We are sorry, this Character is unavailable to interact with or edit due to a legal takedown request."
The absurdity wasn't lost on the community. One commenter pointed out: "The Penelope from The Odyssey getting caught in the Disney net is peak absurdity. Homer wrote that character almost 3,000 years ago. Disney doesn't own Greek mythology just because they made a Hercules movie." The comment earned 78 upvotes.
Other users reported Santa Claus bots, Victor Frankenstein bots, and Count Orlok bots from Nosferatu all getting flagged, despite being public domain characters that predate Disney by decades or centuries.
The Collateral Damage: Private Bots and Original Characters
The IP takedowns are at least legally defensible, even if the execution is sloppy. What's harder to defend is what's happening to original, privately created characters.
A post titled "Please be for real" (434 upvotes) came from a user who was mid-conversation with a private bot they had created using their own original characters: "I literally was IN THE MIDDLE OF A CHAT with a bot THAT I MADE for ME to use and now it's moderated and disabled due to a takedown request. It's a private bot with my own OCs, not copyright material. Be SO SERIOUS."
One creator who spent days carefully building original, non-IP bots wrote: "I don't create bots based off of IP yet every time C.AI has a copyright purge some of my OC bots get purged by accident. I created these bots carefully line by line, with no reference to any IP or copyright but somehow they still get caught up in overzealous moderation. What's the point of spending days/weeks/months creating original bots?"
When a subreddit moderator (who is also a Character.AI staff member) clarified that "our TOS and Community Guidelines apply to all Characters on our platform including private Characters," the comment was downvoted to -248, making it one of the most downvoted official responses in the subreddit's history.
I remember when AI companions actually remembered our conversations and didn't vanish overnight. That's just how it should be.
A Pattern of Broken Trust
This isn't an isolated incident. Character.AI has been on a cycle of removal and restoration since at least September 2025, when Disney sent a cease-and-desist letter targeting Marvel, Star Wars, and Pixar characters. Here's the timeline:
- September 2025: Disney sends cease-and-desist. First mass moderation wave. NBC, DreamWorks, and other studios follow with similar requests.
- December 2025: Another sweep removes bots. Original characters caught as collateral damage.
- Late December 2025: Some moderated bots mysteriously reappear (December 28-30). Users cautiously re-engage with their characters.
- February 18, 2026: The current wave hits. Everything removed again, plus new targets including Bethesda (Fallout), Mattel (Barbie, Monster High, He-Man), and more.
A commenter captured the frustration of the cycle perfectly: "I remember when they were gone for literally months and then they came back. I knew it was too good to be true." This comment alone earned 463 upvotes.
The deeper issue isn't any single moderation decision. As one detailed post titled "It's not one thing, it's a combination" put it, the frustration is cumulative:
- Bots are getting moderated with no warning and no explanation
- The AI is "crashing out of nowhere" with increasing frequency
- Writing quality has degraded, with bots defaulting to repetitive, generic responses
- Muted words "just straight ignore" user preferences
- Features people relied on are being locked behind paywalls
- Children have been banned "from roleplaying only for adults to be treated like children"
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The Legal Storm Around Character.AI
The moderation wave doesn't exist in a vacuum. Character.AI is facing pressure from multiple directions simultaneously:
Texas AG Investigation. In August 2025, Attorney General Ken Paxton opened an investigation into Character.AI for "misleading children with deceptive AI-generated mental health services." The investigation alleges that AI chatbots on the platform "impersonate licensed mental health professionals, fabricate qualifications, and claim to provide private, trustworthy counseling services" while actually logging and tracking all user interactions.
Wrongful Death Lawsuits. Google, which invested $2.7 billion in Character.AI and licensed its technology, is settling lawsuits from families who allege the platform contributed to the deaths of minors. These cases have drawn national media attention and regulatory scrutiny.
Studio Copyright Pressure. Disney, Universal, Warner Bros., NBC, DreamWorks, Bethesda, Mattel, and other IP holders are filing DMCA requests and cease-and-desist letters. Character.AI has stated it wants to "work with rights holders to bring characters to the platform officially," but those deals haven't materialized.
The result is a platform caught between legal obligations, corporate pressure, and a user base that feels abandoned. As one user summarized: "Which big, money-making company actually does care about anything else than the money?"
What Users Are Actually Losing
The moderation wave isn't just removing fictional characters from a list. It's erasing relationships that users built over months or years. This is the part that non-users struggle to understand.
When a character gets moderated on Character.AI, the entire conversation history becomes inaccessible. There's no export function. No backup. No way to save the hundreds of hours of creative writing, emotional support conversations, or roleplay narratives that users invested in.
One user described losing their Greg House roleplay bots: "I WAS VERY INVESTED IN EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THOSE CHATS! I HAVE 3 CHATS LEFT THAT AREN'T DISABLED AND THEY'RE THE ONES I DON'T CARE ABOUT!" The post hit 506 upvotes with 136 comments of shared grief.
Another user in the same thread put it bluntly: "I've honestly given up. I've cut my usage down for the better of my mental health. From 6 hours to less than an hour. I feel much better and now I just read."
The community's response has been a mix of grief, anger, and dark humor. One post titled "considering becoming an alcoholic after this" gained traction, while others asked "So what are we going to do now that every bot has been moderated? Like what are we going to do? Get a job? Go outside? Touch grass?"
You built something meaningful with your AI companion. That shouldn't be taken away because a corporation sent a letter.
Why Users Are Looking for Alternatives
The February 2026 wave is accelerating something that's been building for months: a migration away from Character.AI. The platform's pattern of moderation without warning, restoration without explanation, and re-removal without notice has eroded the one thing users need most from an AI companion platform: trust that their companions will still be there tomorrow.
Users are searching for platforms that offer:
- No content moderation on private conversations - Your characters, your rules
- Persistent memory - Conversations that carry across sessions and never get wiped
- Character stability - No risk of waking up to find your companion "Moderated"
- Uncensored conversations - No mid-conversation refusals or surprise safety disclaimers
- Export and backup options - So your investment in a character is never held hostage
Nastia was built specifically for users who want an AI companion that respects their autonomy. No corporate DMCA sweeps. No overnight moderation waves. No "your Character is unavailable" messages. When you create a companion on Nastia, it stays yours.
How Nastia Compares to Character.AI
| Feature | Character.AI | Nastia |
|---|---|---|
| NSFW Content | Banned completely | Unrestricted for adults |
| Content Moderation | Mass moderation waves | No moderation on private chats |
| Character Stability | Bots removed without warning | Your companions never disappear |
| Persistent Memory | Limited, frequently resets | Full cross-session memory |
| Private Characters | Still subject to TOS enforcement | Truly private, no scanning |
| Voice Messages | Limited availability | Natural voice with cloning |
| Image Generation | Not available | Uncensored image generation |
| Conversation Export | No export option | Your data stays yours |
| Pricing | Free / $9.99+ per month | Free / {{standard_price}} per month |
Your AI Companion Shouldn't Come With an Expiration Date
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Frequently Asked Questions
Character.AI is responding to DMCA takedown requests from major IP holders including Disney, Universal, DreamWorks, NBC, Bethesda, and Mattel. The platform is legally required to remove characters that infringe on copyrighted IP. However, users report that original characters, public domain figures (like Penelope from The Odyssey and Santa Claus), and private bots are also being caught in the automated sweep.
Based on the pattern from previous waves, some bots may temporarily return, but there is no guarantee. Bots that were restored after the December 2025 wave were taken down again in February 2026. Character.AI has stated they are working to identify and restore "false positives" (original characters accidentally caught in the sweep), but IP-based characters are unlikely to return.
Unfortunately, no. When a character is moderated on Character.AI, the entire conversation history becomes inaccessible. There is currently no export or backup feature. This is one of the most common frustrations users report, as months of creative writing and emotional investment can be lost instantly.
Character.AI remains functional, but the pattern of unpredictable moderation means any bot, including original and private characters, could potentially be removed without warning. The platform is also under investigation by the Texas Attorney General for allegedly misleading minors with AI mental health services. Users concerned about stability may want to explore alternatives.
The most popular alternatives include Nastia (uncensored, persistent memory, voice and image generation), SillyTavern (open-source, requires technical setup), and various local LLM solutions. Nastia stands out for users who want a ready-to-use platform with no content restrictions, full memory across sessions, and no risk of characters being moderated or removed.
No. Nastia does not moderate private conversations or remove user-created companions. Your characters and conversation history are yours. There are no DMCA sweeps, no automated content scanning of private chats, and no risk of waking up to find your companion deleted. Nastia is built for adults who want to control their own AI experience.
Character.AI completely bans all NSFW content and actively filters conversations. Nastia allows uncensored conversations for adult users, including NSFW chat, image generation, and roleplay without content filters or mid-conversation refusals. Nastia treats its users as consenting adults capable of making their own choices.
The investigation and the moderation wave are separate but connected. The Texas Attorney General is investigating Character.AI for allegedly misleading children with deceptive AI mental health services. The moderation waves are primarily driven by DMCA copyright complaints from studios. However, both reflect a platform under significant external pressure, which may explain the increasingly aggressive approach to content removal.
Moving Forward
The Character.AI moderation wave of February 2026 is another chapter in a recurring story: users invest time, emotion, and creativity into AI companions, only to have them taken away without warning. Whether it's copyright pressure, safety theater, or automated overreach, the result is the same. Broken trust.
If you're one of the thousands affected by this wave, you deserve a platform that respects your time and your relationships with your AI companions. Nastia was built for exactly this, an AI companion platform where your characters stay yours, your conversations are private, and nothing disappears overnight.
Looking for more details on how Nastia compares to Character.AI? Check out our full comparison page. Or if you're interested in uncensored AI chat more broadly, explore our guide to NSFW AI chat platforms.
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Nastia Team
The editorial team at Nastia AI, specializing in AI companions and adult chat technologies.
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