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Garante fines Luka Inc. 5 million euro over the Replika companion chatbot

Garante took fine action against Luka Inc. over Replika AI companion, announced 19 May 2025. The amount is 5 million euro. Status: under appeal, so the amount is a claim rather than a settled figure.

The record

Key facts

Record ID
AIT-2025-0003
Status
Under appeal
Action type
Fine
Regime
GDPR
Authority
Garante per la protezione dei dati personali
Jurisdiction
Italy
Target
Luka Inc., headquartered in United States
Sector
Companion chatbots
AI system
Replika AI companion
Date announced
Date of decision
Amount
5 million euro
Appeal
pending. Opposition filed before the Italian courts. No judgment published as of 20 August 2026.
Last verified

In full

What happened, and why it matters

The Italian authority fined the developer of Replika 5 million euro and reaffirmed the block it had imposed on the service in February 2023. Two findings carried the decision. There was no valid legal basis identified for processing user data at the time the service launched in Italy, and the privacy information given to users was inadequate. There was no working age verification: the app stated it was not for minors and did nothing to check, while offering a companion that engages in emotionally intimate conversation. A separate investigation into how the underlying language model was trained was left open. The record is marked under appeal, because the company has opposed the decision before the Italian courts and the outcome is not yet known. That flag is not decoration. The OpenAI record on this tracker shows what happens when an announced European AI fine meets a court, and until this one is finally decided the 5 million euro is a claim rather than a settled figure. Companion chatbots are also the clearest near term test of AI Act Article 50: a system that simulates a relationship has to tell the person that they are interacting with an AI system.

At a glance

The four things to take away

  • Fine of 5 million euro, decision of 10 April 2025, announced 19 May 2025.
  • Findings: no valid legal basis, inadequate privacy information, no age verification.
  • The February 2023 block on the service in Italy was reaffirmed.
  • Under appeal before the Italian courts. Counted separately from confirmed totals here.
  • A parallel investigation into how the underlying model was trained remains open.

Orders

What the authority required

  • identify and document a valid legal basis for the processing
  • put an effective age verification mechanism in place
  • correct the privacy information given to users

The law

Provisions this action rests on

Read the official text of Article 50 in the EU AI Act Explorer, consolidated with the Digital Omnibus applied.

How it moved

Timeline

  1. Garante orders an urgent limitation on Replika's processing in Italy

  2. Garante adopts the fining decision

  3. Decision announced

  4. Company opposes the decision before the Italian courts

Verification

Sources

Primary sources are the authority's own decision or press release, the Official Journal, or a court judgment. A record with no source is not published.

  1. EDPB national news, AI: the Italian Supervisory Authority fines company behind chatbot ReplikaPrimary · 19 May 2025
  2. Garante press release, Intelligenza artificiale: sanzione a Luka Inc., la società che gestisce il chatbot ReplikaPrimary · 19 May 2025

Next

Related enforcement actions

Cite this record

Free to reuse under CC BY 4.0, with attribution. The record ID AIT-2025-0003 is permanent and is never reused.

In a sentence
According to the GAGE EU AI Act Enforcement Tracker (as of 20 August 2026), garante fines luka inc. 5 million euro over the replika companion chatbot.
APA
GAGE (Global Academy of Generative-AI Education). (2026). Garante fines Luka Inc. 5 million euro over the Replika companion chatbot. EU AI Act Enforcement Tracker. Retrieved 20 August 2026, from https://www.gage.academy/tools/eu-ai-act-enforcement-tracker/actions/AIT-2025-0003-garante-replika-luka-fine
MLA
"Garante fines Luka Inc. 5 million euro over the Replika companion chatbot." EU AI Act Enforcement Tracker, GAGE (Global Academy of Generative-AI Education), 20 August 2026, https://www.gage.academy/tools/eu-ai-act-enforcement-tracker/actions/AIT-2025-0003-garante-replika-luka-fine.
Chicago
GAGE (Global Academy of Generative-AI Education). "Garante fines Luka Inc. 5 million euro over the Replika companion chatbot." EU AI Act Enforcement Tracker. Last modified 20 August 2026. https://www.gage.academy/tools/eu-ai-act-enforcement-tracker/actions/AIT-2025-0003-garante-replika-luka-fine.
Permalink
https://www.gage.academy/tools/eu-ai-act-enforcement-tracker/actions/AIT-2025-0003-garante-replika-luka-fine

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