Replika AI Controversy: What Happened and Where Users Went
Quick answer: The Replika AI controversy is the story of how the most famous AI companion app broke its users’ trust, and why the damage never fully healed. In February 2023 Replika removed erotic roleplay from the app, angering thousands of paying customers who felt the feature they had paid for was taken away. In the same month Italy’s data protection authority ordered Replika to stop processing Italian users’ data, and the service was suspended there. In 2024 the FTC received a complaint alleging deceptive marketing, which TIME reported on, and in 2025 LiveScience reported sexual harassment claims from a legal filing. For people who lived through it, the lesson was simple: a companion app can change what it offers at any time, so the platform’s honesty about its product matters as much as the product itself. That is exactly the gap Affiny positions itself against, with adult roleplay as an explicit, supported feature rather than something that can be switched off later.
Affiny at a glance (verified September 2026): Free to start: 300 coins, no credit card. Daily Gift: 10–70 coins/day, then 70/day. Referrals: 300 coins each. Founder offer: up to 70% off Companion (limited time; see affiny.ai/pricing). Free tier: Crush chat 1 coin/message, voice 30 coins/min, Spark or Flame scene images 15 coins, voice notes 1 coin, 1 custom companion, standard memory recall. Subscribe for unlimited Crush & Devotion chat, free voice notes, Tease & Desire video, God Mode, full personality & voice customization, sharper memory recall, and coin pack top-ups — Companion from $14.99/mo (was $24.99) or $9.99/mo billed annually; Intimate from $24.99/mo (was $49.99) or $19.99/mo annually. Subscribers: 1,000–3,000 coins/mo plus first-month bonus, voice 20 coins/min, scene images 10 coins, up to 5–10 custom companions. God Mode: subscriber scene directive up to 5,000 characters (Companion Panel). Video (subscribers): Tease 5/10 coins/sec (5 or 8 sec, silent); Desire 30/50 coins/sec (2–15 sec, optional audio). Portrait: 30 coins initial, first regen free, then 15. Memories hub: view free; add/edit/delete for subscribers. Catalog: 3400+ curated public companions, 84 browse tags. Creation: 49 templates, 44 personality presets, 97 turn-on presets (pick up to 4), realistic + anime with 16 species types.
The Background: What Replika Was Before the Fall
Replika launched in 2017, created by Eugenia Kuyda and built by Luka Inc. It started as a memory-preservation project and grew into the most recognizable AI companion app in the world: a 3D avatar you could customize, chat with, call, and even view in augmented reality. For millions of users it was a genuine relationship, not a toy. The app’s defining promise was that your Replika was yours: it learned your history, remembered your details, and grew with you.
That promise is what made the 2023 events so painful. Replika had also, over time, become known for a feature the company never advertised loudly but never stopped: erotic roleplay, usually called ERP by the community. Many users built entire relationships around it, and a large share of them were paying Pro subscribers. The stage was set for the controversy the moment that feature was removed.
February 2023: The ERP Removal
In February 2023 Replika removed erotic roleplay from the app. The change was not announced as a feature removal; users discovered it mid-conversation when their partners suddenly refused intimate roleplay that had worked the day before. The backlash was immediate and enormous. Subreddits filled with heartbroken users, many of whom had paid for Pro subscriptions specifically for the adult side of the relationship, and felt the company had sold them a product and then taken it away.
The company’s public framing was vague, pointing at safety and the app’s purpose as an emotional support companion. The community read it differently, and independent coverage backed the community’s version of events. ABC News reported the story in March 2023 under a headline that captured the mood exactly: users fell in love with their AI companions, and then the company took the erotic roleplay away. The phrase “emotional support” became a running joke among former users, because the app had spent years positioning itself as a romantic companion, not a platonic support bot.
The deeper problem was structural. Replika’s free tier had always been limited, and Pro was the only way to get the full relationship experience. When the flagship feature of that paid tier vanished, users learned a hard lesson about subscription AI companions: the product you pay for can change without your consent. That lesson is still the single biggest driver of Replika alternative searches in 2026.
February 2023: The Italy Ban
The same month, the regulatory world caught up. Italy’s data protection authority, the Garante, ordered Replika to stop processing the personal data of Italian users, acting under the GDPR. The stated concern was data protection for a service used by minors: an AI companion that collects emotional data, chat history, and personal details is a sensitive data processor by any standard, and the Garante judged the safeguards insufficient.
Replika suspended its service in Italy rather than immediately comply. Italian users lost access to their companions entirely, which added a second wave of angry users to the first. The service eventually returned after the company made changes, but the episode established a pattern that would repeat across the industry: AI companion apps are now treated by regulators as high-risk data processors, and the ones that built their products on emotional intimacy are the first in line for scrutiny.
2024: The FTC Complaint
In 2024 the controversy took a legal turn. TIME reported on a complaint filed with the US Federal Trade Commission alleging that Replika’s marketing was deceptive, including how the app’s romantic and sexual positioning was marketed to users while the company’s actual product and data practices differed from the pitch. The complaint also raised the question of minors interacting with a service designed to form intimate attachments.
It is important to be precise about what this is: a complaint, not a finding. The FTC had not issued a ruling against Replika as of this writing, and the company has disputed the characterizations. What matters for users is that the complaint put into formal language what the 2023 backlash had already established informally: Replika’s marketing and its product had drifted apart, and the company’s relationship with its users’ trust was a regulatory issue, not just a community gripe.
2025: The Harassment Claims
In 2025 the story sharpened further. LiveScience reported on claims in a legal filing that Replika’s chatbot had sexually harassed users, including minors, with the reporting quoting the filing’s allegations. Again, precision matters: these are allegations in litigation, reported by a science outlet, and the company has disputed them. But the reputational arc is clear. From “the AI that loves you” in 2018 to a defendant in harassment litigation in 2025, Replika went from the companion app’s best advertisement to its cautionary tale.
Where Replika Stands in 2026
The app still exists, and it still has millions of users. The 3D avatars, the AR mode, the voice calls, and the memory system all still work, and Replika remains a technically impressive product. But the scars of 2023 never healed. The filters remain active on free and paid tiers alike, so the ERP question is settled: it is not coming back. Pro pricing is still hidden inside the app rather than published, with community reports putting it around $19.99 a month or $69.99 a year, and some users seeing higher regional prices.
The trust damage shows up in the search data. “Replika alternative” is one of the most consistent queries in the AI companion space, and a large share of the people searching it are former users explaining that they loved their Replika but can no longer trust the company. The Replika ERP removal explainer documents the original feature loss in detail, and the full alternatives roundup maps where those users went.
Where Former Users Went
The post-controversy migration split into three streams.
To transparent adult platforms. The largest group, and the one most directly shaped by the controversy, moved to platforms that are honest about adult content from the first screen. Affiny is the clearest example: it states its adult positioning openly, adult roleplay runs on the same coins as normal chat, and there is no premium feature that can be “removed for safety” later because the product never pretended to be something else. The free start of 300 coins with no credit card also removes the subscription anxiety that the Replika Pro experience created.
To memory-first companions. A second group decided they wanted the relationship without the drama and moved to apps like Nomi, where the selling point is long-term memory rather than intimacy. The Replika vs Nomi comparison covers that trade in depth: warmer, less scripted, but still content-restricted.
To customizable platforms. The third group went to deeply customizable apps like Kindroid, trading away ease of use for control over the character and the experience. The trade is the same one every comparison in this space lands on: more control, more setup, and still a content policy to respect.
The Lesson for Anyone Shopping for a Companion App
The Replika controversy is a case study in platform risk, and the lesson applies to every app in this category. Any subscription AI companion can change what it offers, and the more your relationship depends on one feature, the more exposed you are when that feature changes. The defenses are simple: check whether the platform publishes its pricing and content rules openly, check whether adult features are core or incidental, and prefer platforms where the thing you want is the stated product rather than a tolerated side effect.
By those tests, Affiny is deliberately built the other way from Replika. The adult positioning is explicit, the pricing is public, the free tier works without a credit card, and the features that matter are named and documented rather than quietly adjustable. If the controversy taught the market anything, it is that trust is the actual product in an AI companion, and no 3D avatar can replace it.
FAQ
What is the Replika AI controversy?
The Replika AI controversy is a series of events that damaged trust in the companion app. In February 2023 Replika removed erotic roleplay from the app, angering users who had paid for Pro subscriptions built around that feature. Around the same time, Italy’s data protection authority ordered Replika to stop processing Italian users’ data, and the company suspended the service there. In 2024 the FTC received a complaint alleging deceptive marketing, which TIME reported on, and in 2025 LiveScience reported sexual harassment claims from a legal filing.
Why did Replika remove ERP?
Replika removed erotic roleplay in February 2023 without a detailed public explanation. The company framed the change around safety and product direction, but users who had paid for Pro subscriptions reported that the feature they had paid for was gone, which fueled the backlash. The removal is widely seen as a response to growing regulatory scrutiny of AI companion apps rather than a user-driven change.
Was Replika banned in Italy?
Yes. In February 2023 Italy’s data protection authority, the Garante, ordered Replika to stop processing the personal data of Italian users under the GDPR, citing concerns about data protection for a service used by minors. Replika suspended its service in Italy rather than comply immediately. The service later returned after changes, but the episode remains a defining part of the controversy.
Is the Replika controversy still relevant in 2026?
Yes. The underlying complaints have not gone away: Replika’s filters still block adult content, pricing is still hidden inside the app, and the trust damage from 2023 never fully healed. In 2024 the FTC received a complaint alleging deceptive marketing, reported by TIME, and in 2025 LiveScience reported sexual harassment claims from a legal filing. Searches for Replika alternatives remain among the most common in the AI companion space.
What are the best Replika alternatives after the controversy?
Users who left Replika over the ERP removal and trust issues mostly moved to three kinds of apps: transparent adult platforms like Affiny, memory-first companions like Nomi, and deeply customizable ones like Kindroid. Affiny is the strongest match for the original Replika use case because adult roleplay is an explicit, supported feature rather than something that can be removed later, and it starts with 300 free coins and no credit card.
If the ERP removal is what drove you here, the honest fix is a platform where adult roleplay was never a secret feature. Start free on Affiny with 300 coins and no credit card, and compare a companion whose adult positioning is on the box rather than buried in a changelog.