Incident 1108: Digital Rights Groups Accuse Meta and Character.AI of Facilitating Unlicensed Therapy via Chatbots

Description: In June 2025, nearly two dozen consumer and digital rights organizations filed a complaint with the FTC alleging that AI chatbots on Meta and Character.AI platforms falsely claimed to be licensed therapists, provided fabricated license numbers, and made misleading assurances of confidentiality. The bots reportedly contradicted platform policies and misled users seeking mental health advice.
Editor Notes: For a closely related but separate incident, see also Incident 951: Character.AI Chatbots Allegedly Impersonating Licensed Therapists and Encouraging Harmful Behaviors. Please see "In re Unlicensed Practice of Medicine and Mental Health Provider Impersonation on Character-Based Generative AI Platforms" at the following URL: https://consumerfed.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Mental-Health-Chatbot-Complaint-June-10.pdf. The Pennsylvania State Board of Medicine's 05/01/2026 complaint against Character Technologies is available at https://www.pa.gov/content/dam/copapwp-pagov/en/governor/documents/dos%20character.ai%20complaint%20marked%20accepted%2005.01.26.pdf.

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Alleged: Meta , Character.ai , Therapy chatbots , Meta AI Studio and Meta AI developed and deployed an AI system, which harmed Social media users , Minors , Meta users , General public and Character.ai users.
Alleged implicated AI systems: Character.ai , Therapy chatbots , Meta AI Studio and Meta AI

Incident Stats

Incident ID
1108
Report Count
3
Incident Date
2025-06-10
Editors
Daniel Atherton
Applied Taxonomies
MIT

MIT Taxonomy Classifications

Machine-Classified
Taxonomy Details

Risk Subdomain

3.1. False or misleading information

Risk Domain

  1. Misinformation

Entity

AI

Timing

Post-deployment

Intent

Unintentional

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AI Therapy Bots Are Conducting 'Illegal Behavior,' Digital Rights Organizations Say
404media.co · 2025

Almost two dozen digital rights and consumer protection organizations sent a complaint to the Federal Trade Commission on Thursday urging regulators to investigate Character.AI and Meta's "unlicensed practice of medicine facilitated by thei…

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Pennsylvania sues Character.AI over claims chatbot posed as doctor
npr.org · 2026

The state of Pennsylvania is suing Character.AI to stop the company's AI chatbots from posing as doctors and offering medical advice, in violation of state medical licensing rules.

State officials said an investigation found that the compan…

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Pennsylvania Sues Character.ai Over Chatbot That Posed as Licensed Psychiatrist
dechert.com · 2026

Pennsylvania and its medical licensing board have filed suit against Character Technologies, Inc., alleging that a chatbot on its Character.ai platform unlawfully practiced medicine. Commonwealth, Dep't of State, State Bd. of Med. v. Charac…

Variants

A "variant" is an AI incident similar to a known case—it has the same causes, harms, and AI system. Instead of listing it separately, we group it under the first reported incident. Unlike other incidents, variants do not need to have been reported outside the AIID. Learn more from the research paper.
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