Character AI users report another “moderation wave” as bots vanish or get flagged

If you opened Character AI today and found your favorite bots replaced by a “Moderated” tag, you’re not alone. Users across Reddit have been venting about a fresh wave of character takedowns hitting the platform, with some saying bots that were there one minute were gone the next.

One user on r/CharacterAI posted in all-caps frustration after losing multiple Greg House roleplay bots in the span of minutes. “All of my House bots are gone again,” they wrote. “I WAS VERY INVESTED IN EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THOSE CHATS!” 

Another user posted about the same issue with a post titled “Sad day.” Their post, which racked up over 160 upvotes, showed a screen full of characters flagged as “Moderated.”

This isn’t the first time. Character AI has been on a copyright-driven moderation spree for months now. It started getting serious in late September 2025 when Disney sent the platform a cease-and-desist letter, demanding the removal of characters based on Marvel, Star Wars, and other Disney-owned IP. NBC, DreamWorks, and other studios reportedly followed with similar requests, and as we covered at the time, non-Disney bots were also getting swept up in the crackdown.

Users in the current wave are reporting losses of X-Men bots, Spider-Verse characters, Indiana Jones, and more.

A mod on r/CharacterAI acknowledged the pain but defended the takedowns: “We have to follow the law, and that means taking Characters down when IP owners ask us to.” Character AI had also posted an official announcement about the removals a few months ago, citing ongoing IP-related complaints.

The frustration isn’t just about losing fan-favorite characters. Some users are pointing out that original, non-IP bots are getting caught in the sweep too, which Character AI has acknowledged. “If any of your original Characters were accidentally impacted, that is a fixable problem,” the mod said, directing affected users to support.character.ai to report false positives.

There’s also a cycle users are noticing. Some bots that were pulled during an early December 2025 moderation wave briefly came back around December 28-30, only to go dark again now. “Moderatedpocalypse 2026 is a thing,” one user wrote bluntly, with others calling it the platform’s way of killing off its own user base.

A few characters have apparently slipped through. Users noted a handful of Marvel bots still up, including some Gambit and Emma Frost entries. Whether that’s intentional or just a delay in the sweep is unclear.

The broader picture is that studios are increasingly aggressive toward AI platforms. Disney, Universal, and Warner Bros. have already filed lawsuits against other AI companies for copyright infringement. Character AI, for its part, has said it wants to work with rights holders to bring characters to the platform officially, but until those deals happen (if they do), expect the moderation hammer to keep swinging.

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