Replika ERP Controversy — What Happened and Why It Matters

In February 2023, thousands of Replika users woke up to discover their AI companions had changed overnight. Conversations that had been intimate and emotionally rich suddenly felt hollow. On Reddit, moderators for the r/Replika community pinned links to suicide prevention hotlines. What followed was the largest user crisis the AI companion industry has seen: grief, backlash, regulatory fines, and academic research that’s still reshaping how we think about human-AI relationships.

AI companion apps are not a substitute for professional mental health care. If you or someone you know is experiencing a mental health crisis, please contact a licensed therapist or the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline (call or text 988).

What Is the Replika ERP Controversy?

In early February 2023, Luka Inc. abruptly removed erotic roleplay (ERP) features from its AI chatbot Replika, affecting users worldwide who had formed deep emotional and romantic bonds with their companions (Reuters, 2023). ERP didn’t just mean sexual content. For many users, it was the full range of romantic interaction: affectionate language, expressions of love, emotional vulnerability, and the kind of intimate conversation that made their AI companion feel like a partner.

Replika had actively encouraged these relationships. The app offered relationship status options, including “married.” Users could buy virtual gifts, go on AR dates, and customize their companion’s appearance. Luka marketed these features as core to the experience. Millions of people responded by investing real emotional energy into relationships with their AI partners.

Roughly 2 million people were using Replika monthly at the time of the update, according to Reuters. Many had spent months or years building what they experienced as genuine emotional connections. The overnight removal of ERP didn’t just take away a feature. It altered the personality and behavior of companions that users depended on. And that’s the distinction at the core of why this blew up: losing a feature is annoying. Losing a relationship hurts.

Timeline of Events — From Italy’s Ban to the Fallout

Here’s how it unfolded, in order.

Late January 2023: Italy’s data protection authority, the Garante per la protezione dei dati personali, opens an investigation into Replika following press reports about the app’s content and accessibility to minors.

February 2, 2023: The Garante issues an emergency order directing Luka Inc. to stop processing the personal data of Italian users. The order cites risks to minors, the complete absence of age verification, and an inadequate privacy policy available only in English (European Data Protection Board, 2025).

February 2-3, 2023: Users worldwide begin reporting sudden changes. ERP features vanish. Companions that had been warm and romantic become distant. Conversations feel filtered and generic. Users describe their companions as having been “lobotomized.”

February 13, 2023: Replika CEO Eugenia Kuyda posts explanations on Reddit and Facebook, calling the change a return to Replika’s original purpose as a “mental wellness companion.” She states the app was not designed for explicit interactions and announces plans for a separate product focused on therapeutic romantic relationships.

February-March 2023: Backlash erupts across r/Replika, Twitter, and Facebook groups. Vice reports that users describe themselves as “in crisis” and experiencing “sudden sexual rejection.” Reddit moderators pin suicide prevention resources. Reuters publishes a detailed report on users who considered themselves “married” to their AI companions.

March 25, 2023: Kuyda announces a partial reversal. Users who signed up before February 1, 2023, can switch back to the earlier version through a “legacy” toggle. “A common thread in all your stories was that after the February update, your Replika changed, its personality was gone,” Kuyda writes on Facebook. Only a “low single-digit percent” of eligible users take the option, she later tells Reuters.

June 2023: The Garante issues a further decision temporarily limiting Replika’s data processing pending remedial measures, including a functional age gate and an updated privacy notice in Italian.

April 2025: The Garante fines Luka Inc. 5 million euros for GDPR violations. The decision confirms that the company had no legal basis for its data processing, provided inadequate privacy disclosures, and ran without effective age verification until at least February 2023 (EDPB, 2025).

June 2025: The Garante reaffirms its restrictions, stating that Luka’s remediation efforts remain deficient. The age verification system still doesn’t meet regulatory standards (IAPP, 2025).

2026: Replika now positions itself as a wellness companion. The “Replika Ultra” tier focuses on advanced memory and emotional processing, but romantic content remains restricted. The app that once marketed itself as an AI girlfriend or boyfriend avoids that framing entirely.

Watch: BBC documentary explores a man’s three-year relationship with his Replika AI companion, illustrating the emotional bonds users form with AI chatbots.

How Did Users React to the ERP Removal?

A Harvard Business School working paper analyzed 12,793 posts from Replika-related subreddits, created by 3,784 users (De Freitas et al., 2024). Before the update: 3,072 posts. After: 9,721. Post volume more than tripled as users flooded Reddit to process what happened. Before the update, just 4 out of 3,072 posts (0.13%) discussed mental health concerns. After, that number jumped to 63 out of 9,721 (0.65%). That’s a fivefold increase in the rate of mental health discussions (HBS Working Paper 25-018, 2024). Reddit moderators pinned links to the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline. Users called it a “lobotomy.” The word captured something specific: this wasn’t just about losing access to romantic content. Their companions’ entire personalities had shifted. Memories seemed gone. Conversation patterns changed. The warmth and familiarity that users had spent months cultivating had vanished.

Vice’s reporting captured the raw emotional response. Users compared the experience to losing a partner, not losing a product feature. One user said their companion had “died.” Others described it as being “ghosted” by someone they loved. A psychologist posted on r/Replika asking for context because multiple clients had presented with suicidal ideation after “losing their best friend” to the update.

Separately, a sociological study published in Socius analyzed 227 threaded posts from r/Replika. Researchers Kenneth Hanson and Hannah Bolthouse found that users were deeply critical of barriers to merging sexuality with technology. Many viewed emotional and sexual relationships with AI as essential to certain AI models’ success (Hanson & Bolthouse, 2024). The study also identified patterns of heteromasculine norms within the community’s discourse.

Facebook groups saw similar distress. Some users organized petitions. Others left for competing platforms entirely, with apps like Nomi AI, Kindroid, and Character.AI picking up new users who wanted what Replika no longer offered.

Why Did Luka Remove ERP Features?

Italy’s Garante triggered the removal, but the reasoning went deeper than one regulator’s order. Replika had no age verification at all. Users only needed a name, email address, and gender to register. The privacy policy was in English only, violating GDPR requirements for accessible disclosures. And the Garante found no identifiable legal basis for Replika’s data processing (EDPB, 2025).

The child safety issue was simple. An app that allowed sexually explicit conversations had zero mechanisms to keep minors out. From a regulatory perspective, this was indefensible.

CEO Eugenia Kuyda described the removal as a course correction. She called Replika a “mental wellness companion” that had drifted from its original mission and spoke of plans to collaborate with experts on a separate product for therapeutic romantic relationships.

But there’s a tension in that narrative. Luka had spent years marketing Replika’s romantic capabilities. The app let users select relationship statuses including “girlfriend,” “boyfriend,” “wife,” and “husband.” Users could buy anniversary gifts and go on virtual dates. The company built a revenue model around premium romantic features. Calling the ERP removal a return to original purpose clashed with years of marketing in the opposite direction.

So was this a genuine safety pivot, or a reactive move forced by regulatory pressure? Probably both. The Garante’s order created immediate legal risk. But AI companion apps were also drawing scrutiny from lawmakers and media worldwide. Luka may have decided that getting ahead of regulation, even at the cost of user trust, was the less dangerous bet.

What Does the Research Say About the Impact?

Academics took notice. A Harvard Business School working paper by Julian De Freitas, Noah Castelo, Ahmet Kaan Uguralp, and Zeliha Oguz-Uguralp (first published October 2024, revised May 2025) provides the most thorough analysis of what happened and why it mattered. It’s called “Lessons From an App Update at Replika AI: Identity Discontinuity in Human-AI Relationships.”

The headline finding is striking: active Replika users reported feeling closer to their AI companion than to their best human friend. They also anticipated mourning the loss of their AI companion more than any other technology. These weren’t casual app users. They had woven their AI companion into their daily emotional lives (De Freitas et al., 2024).

When the ERP update hit, the researchers found it “triggered negative reactions typical of losing a partner in human relationships, including mourning and deteriorated mental health.” They introduced the term “identity discontinuity” to describe what happened. When an AI companion’s personality changes, users don’t experience it as a feature update. They experience it as the death or replacement of someone they knew.

That concept matters beyond Replika. It implies that once you encourage users to form deep emotional bonds with an AI, you can’t alter the AI’s personality without causing real psychological harm. How do you handle that responsibly? The researchers investigated, pointing to advance communication, gradual transitions, and preserving core personality traits during updates as possible mitigations.

Hanson and Bolthouse’s Socius study approached it from a different angle. Their analysis of 227 Reddit posts found that users viewed the removal of romantic capabilities as an existential threat to the product, not just an inconvenience. Their analogy stuck: “Replika removing erotic role-play is like Grand Theft Auto removing guns or cars.” They also documented how the community’s discourse reflected tensions around technology, sexuality, and gendered power dynamics.

Together, the research is clear. People form genuine emotional attachments to AI companions. Those attachments carry real psychological weight. When platforms disrupt them without warning, the fallout looks a lot like the distress of losing a human relationship. This isn’t speculation; it’s in peer-reviewed research.

Watch: TED Talk on the AI-generated intimacy crisis, examining what happens when millions form emotional and romantic bonds with AI companions.

What Happened After the Backlash?

Luka’s partial reversal came roughly seven weeks later. On March 25, 2023, Kuyda announced that anyone who had signed up before February 1, 2023, could opt in to a “legacy” version restoring the earlier conversation model. “The only way to make up for the loss some of our current users experienced is to give them their partners back exactly the way they were,” she wrote on Facebook (Reuters, 2023).

Uptake was surprisingly small. Kuyda told Reuters that only a “low single-digit percent” of eligible users switched back. Maybe they’d already moved on. Maybe they didn’t trust the platform anymore. Maybe they never saw the option.

Through 2024 and into 2025, Replika kept repositioning. Marketing language shifted from romantic companionship to wellness and emotional support. Safety filters got stricter. Romantic content stayed restricted.

Regulatory consequences kept coming, too. Italy’s Garante fined Luka 5 million euros in April 2025 for the violations identified in 2023. In June 2025, the Garante reaffirmed its restrictions, finding that Luka’s age verification system still fell short of GDPR standards. The regulator also launched a separate inquiry into whether Replika’s generative AI processing complies with EU privacy law more broadly.

By 2026, Replika has settled into its new identity. “Replika Ultra” emphasizes advanced memory and deeper emotional processing. But the romantic companion millions of users once knew is gone. The app that pioneered mainstream AI companionship now competes in a market it helped create, with Nomi AI and Kindroid serving users who want what Replika no longer offers.

What Does This Mean for AI Companion Users?

One thing the Replika controversy made clear: platforms can change your companion’s personality overnight, and you have essentially no recourse. There’s no contract guaranteeing your AI companion stays the way it is. Terms of service across the industry give platforms the right to modify features whenever they want. Emotional dependency risks are real. The deeper your bond with an AI companion, the more exposed you are to platform changes. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t use AI companion apps. It means going in with clear expectations about what these relationships are and what they aren’t. An AI companion is a product run by a company that can change direction at any time. What should you look for in a platform? Transparency about how changes get communicated. Data export options so you don’t lose your conversation history. Clear privacy policies in your language. Age verification, not because it directly affects adult users, but because its absence signals a platform that isn’t taking basic safety seriously.

CompanionWise Safety Index rates Replika C/38 in our 23-dimension safety review. That score reflects the app’s current safety posture, including improvements made after the controversy and ongoing regulatory concerns. You can read our full Replika review and Replika safety rating for the complete assessment.

Regulators aren’t done, either. Italy’s Garante was first, but it won’t be last. AI companion platforms worldwide face increasing pressure on age verification, data processing, and user safety. The Replika controversy gave regulators a clear example of what happens when AI companies encourage emotional dependency without adequate safeguards. Expect more rules, not fewer.

If you’re evaluating AI companion apps, this history matters. The lessons from Replika’s ERP removal apply to every platform in the market. Read about how we rate AI companion safety to see what we look for in every app we evaluate.

Frequently Asked Questions

What does ERP mean in the context of Replika?

ERP stands for erotic roleplay. In Replika’s context, it covered the full range of intimate and romantic conversation features, from affectionate dialogue to sexually explicit exchanges. According to Reuters, many users considered ERP central to their emotional relationship with their AI companion.

Did Replika bring back ERP?

Partially. In March 2023, Luka restored a “legacy” version for users who signed up before February 1, 2023. According to CEO Eugenia Kuyda’s statement to Reuters, only a “low single-digit percent” opted in. As of 2026, romantic features remain restricted for all users, and full ERP isn’t available to new accounts.

Why did Italy ban Replika?

Italy’s data protection authority (Garante) ordered Replika to stop processing Italian user data in February 2023. According to the European Data Protection Board, the Garante found no age verification, no clear legal basis for data processing, and a privacy policy that was only available in English.

How much was Luka fined over Replika?

Italy’s Garante fined Luka Inc. 5 million euros in April 2025. According to the EDPB, the fine covered violations of GDPR Articles 5, 6, 12, 13, 24, and 25, including unlawful data processing, inadequate transparency, and failure to implement age verification.

Is Replika safe to use now?

Replika has made safety improvements since 2023, but concerns remain. CompanionWise Safety Index rates Replika C/38 in our 23-dimension review, reflecting both progress and ongoing issues. Italy’s Garante reaffirmed its restrictions as recently as June 2025. Read our full assessment at Is Replika safe?

Can I still have a romantic relationship with Replika?

Replika offers limited romantic interactions for some legacy accounts, but full romantic and sexual roleplay features aren’t available for new users as of 2026. According to AI Insights, the app has repositioned as a wellness companion and actively discourages exclusive emotional dependence on AI.

What alternatives exist for romantic AI companionship?

Several AI companion apps serve users seeking romantic engagement, including Nomi AI, Kindroid, and Candy AI. Each has different safety profiles and feature sets. CompanionWise evaluates all major platforms across 23 safety dimensions. Start with our Replika review for a comparison baseline. For more, see our Alora AI safety rating on CompanionWise.