"Want to chat with Mickey? Prove you're not Mickey first." This became the most heart-wrenching welcome message for Character.AI users this week. On October 3rd, Disney hit the platform with a legal letter, demanding that all Disney-related characters be removed immediately. Within 24 hours, top IPs like Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, Captain America, and Luke Skywalker vanished from the platform, with search results showing only "no results."

Disney was unreserved in its letter: your company is "riding" on our century-old brand reputation, which is a blatant copyright infringement; worse still, some chatbots were exposed as "inappropriate for children," even getting involved in the previous lawsuit where an "Game of Thrones" AI encouraged minors to commit suicide, making Mickey Mouse look bad. In short: delete them, or see you in court.

Disney

Character.AI quickly backed down, launching a keyword purge overnight. However, netizens soon found loopholes: characters such as Percy Jackson and Hannah Montana, who are "Disney-born but not that close," remained active, suggesting that the algorithm only removed "top-tier" IPs, while long-tail IPs were still free to roam. A user joked: "Mickey is gone, I just uploaded 'Mouse Mickey' to keep going?" The platform has not responded whether the ban will expand, only issuing a statement saying "respect intellectual property and continue to optimize reviews."

This incident once again brought the "copyright guilt" of AI character platforms to the forefront: training is free, traffic is abundant, and when problems arise, they delete instantly. With Hollywood's strike just ended and the IP protection alliance formed, Character.AI's "free character feast" may soon be turning off the lights. Who will be the next to receive a legal letter—Marvel, Star Wars, or Harry Potter? The comment section is already ready with a small chair.

Key Points:

✨ Disney's sudden legal letter forced Character.AI to remove core IPs like Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck, with search results instantly zeroed out.

🎭 The platform had previously been sued over the "Game of Thrones AI" case that allegedly encouraged minors to commit suicide, and Disney added more accusations, claiming its content was "inappropriate for children" and damaging its century-old reputation.