Character.AI prohibits content that promotes, glorifies, or encourages self-harm, suicide, or eating disorders, including extreme fitness content and body shaming.
This analysis describes what Character.AI's agreement states, permits, or reserves. It does not constitute a legal determination about enforceability. Regulatory applicability and practical outcomes may vary by jurisdiction, enforcement context, and individual circumstances. Read our methodology
This provision has direct relevance to user safety, particularly for minor users, and engages ongoing public and regulatory scrutiny of social and AI platforms regarding mental health content moderation obligations.
Users who engage with or create content in these categories may have content removed, and users in distress should be aware that the platform's safety guidelines direct them away from seeking mental health support through AI characters rather than qualified professionals.
How other platforms handle this
You may not use the Services to generate content that violates applicable laws or regulations, including content that is defamatory, obscene, fraudulent, or that infringes the intellectual property rights of any third party.
Content that's meant to praise, promote, or aid violent extremist or criminal organizations is not allowed on YouTube. We rely on many factors — like certain government and international organization designations — to determine what constitutes criminal or terrorist organizations.
You must not attempt to disable, circumvent, or otherwise undermine safety mechanisms, content filters, or use policies built into the models or the Service.
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"Support Wellbeing: Be mindful when discussing sensitive topics like self-harm, eating disorders, or suicide. Promotion, glorification, or encouragement of these topics is prohibited, as they can be triggering or pose serious safety risks. This includes extreme fitness content and body shaming that could promote eating disorders.— Excerpt from Character.AI's Character.ai Community Guidelines
REGULATORY LANDSCAPE: Mental health and self-harm content moderation engages the FTC Act, COPPA (for minor users), and emerging state-level legislation targeting harmful social media content directed at minors, including California's AB 2408 framework. The Surgeon General's advisory on social media and youth mental health has increased regulatory attention on this category. The EU Digital Services Act imposes risk assessment and mitigation obligations for systemic risks including mental health impacts on minors. GOVERNANCE EXPOSURE: High. Platform liability for AI-generated content contributing to user self-harm is an active area of litigation and regulatory scrutiny. The prohibition is stated as a user conduct rule but the platform's AI models generate content in response to user prompts, creating a parallel obligation to ensure model outputs do not promote self-harm even when users attempt to elicit such content. JURISDICTION FLAGS: California, New York, and several other states have enacted or are considering legislation that would impose specific obligations on platforms regarding harmful content directed at minors, including self-harm and eating disorder content. EU DSA obligations for very large online platforms include mandatory risk assessments for mental health impacts. CONTRACT AND VENDOR IMPLICATIONS: Organizations using Character.AI in healthcare, educational, or youth-serving contexts should verify that the platform's self-harm content controls satisfy applicable duty of care obligations and sector-specific regulations. COMPLIANCE CONSIDERATIONS: Compliance teams should assess whether the platform's crisis intervention protocols (such as routing users seeking self-harm information to emergency resources) are documented and whether they meet evolving regulatory standards for online mental health safety.
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This provision has direct relevance to user safety, particularly for minor users, and engages ongoing public and regulatory scrutiny of social and AI platforms regarding mental health content moderation obligations.
Users who engage with or create content in these categories may have content removed, and users in distress should be aware that the platform's safety guidelines direct them away from seeking mental health support through AI characters rather than qualified professionals.
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