Chatbot Laws Which laws apply?

Guides

Plain answers about chatbot apps, your data and age checks, drawn from each company's own pages, with the laws behind each answer.

Is it safe?

Age rules, content limits, privacy and the laws that may apply, app by app.

Compare the apps side by side: minimum age, age checks, teen rules, sexual content, training on chats and deleting your account.

Lawsuits and court cases

What the lawsuits allege and where the cases stand.

  • Character.AI lawsuitsPrivate lawsuits and state actions against Character.AI, the Garcia ruling, settlements in principle, and how the company's Chapter 11 case bears on them.
  • ChatGPT lawsuitsOpenAI lawsuits over ChatGPT safety: ten state attorney general suits plus private injury and wrongful-death cases, with courts, claims, status and sources.
  • Is Character.AI shutting downCharacter.AI filed for Chapter 11 on Oct. 12, 2026. Where the sale stands, the key dates, what Disney's bid covers, and what happens to users and their chats.

Your data and account

Deleting chats, turning features off and who can read what you share.

  • Can Character.AI see chatsWho can see your Character.AI chats: creators, moderators, parents and buyers in the company's sale. What its help center says on training and deleting chats.
  • Delete Character.AI accountHow to delete your Character.AI account on the web or app, export your chats first, cancel c.ai+, and what the company's bankruptcy means for your data.
  • Delete ChatGPT historySteps from OpenAI's help center to delete one ChatGPT chat, all chats, archived chats, memories or your account, and what OpenAI says deletion does not remove.
  • Delete Janitor AI accountHow to delete a Janitor AI account with the email code, how to cancel janitor+ on the web, iPhone or Android, and what Janitor's help center says is removed.
  • Delete Replika accountHow to delete a Replika account in the app or on the web, why a paid plan must be cancelled separately, and what Luka's privacy policy says it keeps.
  • Delete Talkie accountHow to delete a Talkie AI account, why Talkie+ must be cancelled through the app store, and what Talkie's privacy policy and terms say happens to your data.
  • Remove My AI on SnapchatHow to unpin or remove My AI from your Snapchat Chat feed, delete your My AI data, what Snap does with it, parent controls, and Utah's lawsuit over My AI.
  • Turn off Meta AIWhether Meta AI can be turned off in Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger, how to delete its copy of your chats, and how Meta uses AI chats for ads.

Kids and age checks

Whether chatbot apps suit children, why they ask your age, and the laws behind it.

  • App store age lawsTexas, Utah, Louisiana and Alabama app store age verification laws as of October 2026: what stores and developers must do, start dates, lawsuits, federal bill.
  • California age lawCalifornia's Digital Age Assurance Act (AB 1043) makes devices send apps an age signal from 2027: what it requires, what AB 1856 changed, how chatbots use it.
  • Character.AI age verificationWhy Character.AI asks your age, how its selfie and ID check works, what happens to under-18 accounts and your data, and the laws pushing chatbots to check age.
  • ChatGPT adult modeDoes ChatGPT have an adult mode? Status as of Oct 31, 2026, what OpenAI has said, how it checks age, teen protections and laws that bear on age checks.
  • ChatGPT age verificationHow ChatGPT predicts your age, how to verify with Persona if it gets it wrong, what teen mode and parental controls do, and where adult mode stands.
  • Is Character.AI safe for kidsCharacter.AI's minimum age, how it checks age, what changed for under-18 users, Parental Insights, crisis features, lawsuits and the state laws that may apply.
  • Is ChatGPT safe for kidsChatGPT's minimum age, how its teen experience and parental controls work, what parents can and can't see, how teen chats are used, and the state lawsuits.

Laws explained

Plain explanations of chatbot and AI laws and bills, with their status and dates.

  • Colorado AI ActColorado's AI Act, SB 24-205: what it requires, the June 30, 2026 start date, the January 1, 2027 replacement SB 26-189, AG enforcement and AI disclosure.
  • DeepSeek bans by stateA dated list of U.S. states we have confirmed restrict DeepSeek on government devices or networks, plus federal actions, each linked to its official source.
  • Kids Online Safety ActKOSA is not law. See the 2025-2026 Senate and House bills, committee votes, what they would require, whether they cover AI chatbots, and how they differ.

Laws by topic

  • Companion chatbot lawsCompanion chatbots are AI systems built for ongoing, personal conversation: AI friends, partners and characters.
  • Chatbot disclosure lawsDisclosure laws require a chatbot, or the business behind it, to tell people they are talking to AI rather than a human.
  • AI therapy and mental health chatbot lawsThese laws limit what AI can do in mental health care, or bar AI from presenting itself as a licensed professional such as a therapist, nurse or doctor.
  • Chatbot laws for minorsThese laws add protections when a chatbot user is a minor: reminders that the chatbot is AI, limits on sexual content, break reminders, parental tools and, in some states, bans on certain features for children..
  • Chatbot age verification lawsSome chatbot laws require companies to verify or estimate users’ ages, so that protections for minors can apply.
  • AI chatbot toy lawsThese laws cover toys and children’s products that hold conversations through a built-in chatbot..
  • Customer service chatbot lawsThese laws set rules for businesses that use chatbots to deal with customers, such as telling customers they are talking to a bot and letting them reach a person..