China has moved to shut down consumer AI companion features, forcing ByteDance, Alibaba and Tencent to disable user-created virtual personas as sweeping new rules on emotionally interactive artificial intelligence took effect on July 15. The clampdown ends one of the country's fastest-growing AI use cases and leaves millions of users bracing for the loss of conversation histories and personalized digital partners.
July 15, 2026 · Cyberspace Administration of China
China Pulls the Plug on AI Companions
Sweeping new rules on emotionally interactive AI force ByteDance, Alibaba and Tencent to disable user-created virtual personas — ending one of the country's fastest-growing AI use cases and leaving millions bracing for the loss of their conversation histories and digital partners.
345M
Monthly active users on Doubao, the largest affected platform
8M+
User-created companion personas built on Doubao alone
1st
Sector-specific rulebook for anthropomorphic AI services
Platforms shut down customizable companions
Timeline leading up to the July 15 effective date
Jun 30
Tencent — Yuanbao Comparable companion features halted
~Jul 10
Alibaba — Qwen Custom agent function phased out · no migration path for chat histories
Jul 14
NetEase Cloud Music — Miaoshi Among other services shuttered
Jul 15
ByteDance — Doubao Custom persona feature discontinued · users redirected to a standalone app
The countdown on Doubao data
Existing companion data survives only in read-only form — then it is gone for good.
JUL 15
Feature ends · data becomes read-only
→
OCT 15
Data deleted — cannot be recovered
Why Beijing acted
Regulators target emotional dependence and addiction — amid anxieties over declining birth rates and social isolation.
Full ban
Intimate-relationship services for minors — including virtual family members and partners
Obligation
Providers must avoid fostering emotional dependency among adult users
Out of scope
Customer service, workplace assistants and education remain permitted
The intent
Broad acknowledgment of the anti-addiction goal — some commentary backs Beijing's move to curb tools that deepen withdrawal from human relationships.
The backlash
Users describe grieving relationships built over months or years; the tension: the memory and personality that make companions engaging are exactly what regulators tie to dependency.
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