{"meta":{"exportedAt":"2026-10-14T15:48:31.709Z","formatVersion":2,"selection":{"q":"suspension","system":"","harm":"","context":"","country":"","role":"","relation":"core","evidence":"","year":"2025","response":"","severity":"","verification":"","view":"incidents","sort":"added"},"totalIncidents":2,"coverage":{"cases":2,"countries":2,"languages":1,"unknownLocation":0,"locationPending":0,"unknownLanguage":0,"unknownDate":0,"lawsuits":0,"regulatory":1,"minors":0,"coreRelations":2,"contextualRelations":0,"mixedRelations":0,"unknownRelations":0,"relationPending":0,"relationUnknown":0},"countingNote":"Distinct public cases in this selection. People counts apply within individual cases only; cross-case person overlap has not been resolved. No population incidence estimate.","affectedCountNote":"Interpret person counts with affectedCountStatus and the reported effects. Unquantified zeros are placeholders, not a measured zero.","source":"AI incidents","publisher":"NOPE","url":"https://nope.net/incidents","license":"CC BY 4.0"},"incidents":[{"id":"2025-ontario-lawyer-chatgpt-factum-invented-cases-contempt-referral-licence-suspension","caseFacts":{"claims":[{"id":"c1","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'On May 1, the applicant’s counsel presented a motion seeking relief in this application. During oral submissions, she delivered a factum and cited cases to support the applicant’s arguments.'; 'The judge asked the lawyer if AI like ChatGPT supported the preparation of the factum. She said she would have to ask her clerk.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"'After the hearing, the judge again reviewed the factum and found two more incorrect citations — one to a non-existent case and another to a case that stood for the opposite proposition than that for which it had been cited.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"},{"locator":"'When Justice Myers confronted her in open court about whether she had used ChatGPT, she categorically denied it, stating, “I did not.”'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s4"},{"locator":"'whether she had used ChatGPT to write her factum'; 'said she had not.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s7"}],"assertion":"At a motion hearing on 1 May 2025 in an Ontario Superior Court of Justice estate and family-law application, the applicant’s lawyer relied in writing and orally on a factum citing cases that the judge could not find or that did not support the propositions cited; asked whether AI such as ChatGPT had been used, the lawyer said, according to Canadian Lawyer and LawSites, that she would have to ask her clerk, while Law360 Canada and the tribunal reasons as reported by Law Times say she denied using ChatGPT.","causal_attribution":"Account of the court’s first endorsement (2025 ONSC 2766) as relayed by two legal-press outlets, with the lawyer’s answer in court given differently by Law360 Canada and by the tribunal reasons as reported by Law Times; the endorsement itself was not read."},{"id":"c2","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'factum may have been created by AI and that before filing the factum and relying on it in court, she might not have checked to make sure the cases were real'; 'the judge ordered the attorney to show cause why she should not be cited for contempt.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"},{"locator":"'counsel was ordered to return for a show cause hearing to argue why she should not be cited for contempt of court'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s3"}],"assertion":"The judge found that the factum appeared to have been created by AI and not checked, and ordered the lawyer to show cause why she should not be cited for contempt of court.","causal_attribution":"The court’s own statement, as quoted by LawSites and summarised by Cassels."},{"id":"c3","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'At an informal scheduling conference on May 16, 2025, counsel was forthright in admitting her error and provided an explanation.'; 'In a written decision released on May 20, 2025, the Court found it unnecessary to continue with contempt proceedings'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s3"},{"locator":"'explaining that her staff had used ChatGPT to prepare the factum without her knowledge. She apologized for the mistake and promised to complete at least six hours of continuing professional education in legal ethics and technology.'; 'suffered a public shaming near the end of an unblemished career,'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s7"}],"assertion":"After telling the court that her staff had used ChatGPT to prepare the factum without her knowledge, apologising and undertaking continuing professional education, the lawyer had the show-cause order withdrawn in a decision released on 20 May 2025, which noted that she had suffered a public shaming near the end of an unblemished career.","causal_attribution":"The court’s second decision (2025 ONSC 2965) as summarised by Cassels and recited in the tribunal reasons reported by Law Times."},{"id":"c4","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'admitting the truth: there was no student.'; 'The new disclosure raises issues of deception of the court in a contempt of court proceeding. The procedural context and the quality of the acts are very different.'; 'the court appointed amicus curiae Dean Embry to ensure'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s4"},{"locator":"'revealing that she alone prepared the AI-assisted factum, reversing her prior claim that others were involved. The court treated this as a fresh act of potential contempt and referred the matter to the Attorney General.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s5"}],"assertion":"On 30 September 2025 the lawyer wrote to the court that she alone had prepared the factum using ChatGPT and that her earlier account blaming staff was untrue; on 4 December 2025 the court referred the matter to the Attorney General of Ontario for criminal contempt proceedings and appointed an amicus curiae.","causal_attribution":"The court’s third decision (2025 ONSC 6785) as described by Law360 Canada and WeirFoulds; both relay the same decision."},{"id":"c5","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'will have her license to practise law suspended for six months starting July 17. The tribunal'; 'to pay $10,000 to the Law Society of Ontario'; 'containing only non-existent or irrelevant case law generated by an artificial intelligence tool” and later lying to the court about not using the tool.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s6"}],"assertion":"On 16 July 2026 the Law Society Tribunal suspended the lawyer’s licence for six months from 17 July and ordered her to pay $10,000 to the Law Society of Ontario, finding that she relied on a factum containing only non-existent or irrelevant case law generated by an AI tool and later lied to the court about not using the tool.","causal_attribution":"The tribunal’s order as reported by Law Times; the order itself was not read."},{"id":"c6","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'the lawyer failed to serve her client in a family law matter by using ChatGPT to prepare a factum containing AI-hallucinated case citations and arguments.'; 'Later, she admitted that she had prepared the factum herself and did not know hallucinations existed until Myers confronted her about her submissions.'; 'we are extremely troubled by the lawyer’s subsequent repeated lies to the court and to the law society'; 'had little to no prior experience with ChatGPT'; 'That case remains ongoing.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s7"}],"assertion":"The tribunal’s reasons, as reported, say the lawyer failed to serve her client by using ChatGPT to prepare a factum containing hallucinated citations and arguments, that she had prepared the factum herself with little or no prior experience of ChatGPT, that her repeated lies to the court and the Law Society troubled the tribunal more than the reliance, and that the criminal contempt case remained ongoing.","causal_attribution":"The tribunal’s reasons as reported by Law Times; the reasons themselves were not read."}],"effects":[{"label":"show-cause order for contempt, referral for criminal contempt and a six-month licence suspension after relying on ChatGPT-generated nonexistent case law","claim_id":"c5","direction":"negative"}],"sources":[{"id":"s1","url":"https://www.canadianlawyermag.com/practice-areas/family/superior-court-says-family-law-case-factum-may-have-fake-legal-citations-due-to-ai-hallucinations/392433","kind":"news_report","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"Read in full in English by the research agent (an AI) on 2026-10-12; no translation was involved and no human reviewer read it. Canadian Lawyer, 13 May 2025, reporting the first endorsement (2025 ONSC 2766); HTTP 200. The endorsement itself (CanLII) returned 403 live and from the Internet Archive.","independence_group":"ontario-superior-court-endorsements-2025"},{"id":"s2","url":"https://www.lawnext.com/2025/05/ai-hallucinations-strike-again-two-more-cases-where-lawyers-face-judicial-wrath-for-fake-citations.html","kind":"news_report","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"Read in full in English by the research agent (an AI) on 2026-10-12; no translation was involved and no human reviewer read it. LawSites (LawNext), 14 May 2025, summarising the same endorsement; HTTP 200.","independence_group":"ontario-superior-court-endorsements-2025"},{"id":"s3","url":"https://cassels.com/insights/fantasies-in-the-footnotes-ontario-court-rebukes-counsel-for-fake-and-misleading-ai-generated-case-citations/","kind":"legal_commentary","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"Read in full in English by the research agent (an AI) on 2026-10-12; no translation was involved and no human reviewer read it. Cassels law-firm commentary, 23 May 2025, summarising 2025 ONSC 2766 and 2025 ONSC 2965; HTTP 200.","independence_group":"ontario-superior-court-endorsements-2025"},{"id":"s4","url":"https://www.law360.ca/ca/articles/2419185","kind":"legal_commentary","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"Read in full in English by the research agent (an AI) on 2026-10-12; no translation was involved and no human reviewer read it. Law360 Canada analysis, 8 Dec 2025, describing 2025 ONSC 6785 and quoting it; HTTP 200 (full text served).","independence_group":"ontario-superior-court-endorsements-2025"},{"id":"s5","url":"https://www.weirfoulds.com/pdf-article?id=36828","kind":"legal_commentary","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"Read in full in English by the research agent (an AI) on 2026-10-12; no translation was involved and no human reviewer read it. WeirFoulds law-firm article PDF, 23 Dec 2025, on 2025 ONSC 6785; HTTP 200, text extracted with pdftotext.","independence_group":"ontario-superior-court-endorsements-2025"},{"id":"s6","url":"https://www.lawtimesnews.com/resources/professional-regulation/law-society-tribunal-temporarily-suspends-lawyers-license-after-finding-she-lied-about-chatgpt-use/393450","kind":"news_report","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"Read in full in English by the research agent (an AI) on 2026-10-12; no translation was involved and no human reviewer read it. Law Times, 16 Jul 2026, on the Law Society Tribunal order; HTTP 200.","independence_group":"law-society-tribunal-order-and-reasons-2026"},{"id":"s7","url":"https://www.lawtimesnews.com/resources/professional-regulation/out-of-character-tribunal-explains-six-month-suspension-of-lawyer-who-lied-about-chatgpt-use/393453","kind":"news_report","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"Read in full in English by the research agent (an AI) on 2026-10-12; no translation was involved and no human reviewer read it. Law Times, 21 Jul 2026, on the tribunal reasons; HTTP 200. The tribunal order and reasons themselves were not read.","independence_group":"law-society-tribunal-order-and-reasons-2026"}],"version":1,"ai_roles":["own_use"],"contexts":["justice","work"],"unknowns":["The outcome of the criminal contempt proceeding referred to the Attorney General; the latest source read (21 July 2026) says it remained ongoing.","Whether the client suffered any concrete consequence in the estate application; the tribunal found the lawyer failed to serve her client but no source read describes an effect on the case.","Which ChatGPT version was used and what prompts produced the citations.","The court endorsements and the tribunal order and reasons were not read directly (CanLII returned 403); all claims rest on legal-press and law-firm accounts of them."],"geography":{"basis":"The factum was filed and argued at a hearing of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice, and the lawyer is described as a Toronto lawyer licensed by the Law Society of Ontario, whose tribunal suspended her.","court_countries":["CA"],"event_countries":["CA"],"affected_person_countries":["CA"]},"publication":{"basis":"Legal-press and law-firm accounts of three Ontario Superior Court decisions and a Law Society Tribunal order describe a lawyer who relied on ChatGPT-generated nonexistent case law in a factum, was ordered to show cause for contempt, later admitted she alone had used ChatGPT and had misled the court, was referred for criminal contempt and was suspended for six months.","reviewed_on":"2026-10-12"},"ai_involvement":{"basis":"The lawyer told the court in September 2025 that she alone prepared the factum using ChatGPT, and the Law Society Tribunal, as reported by Law Times, found that she relied on a factum containing only non-existent or irrelevant case law generated by an AI tool and that she used ChatGPT to prepare it. ChatGPT’s output (citations to cases that do not exist or do not support the propositions) reached the lawyer, who filed it and relied on it orally at the 1 May 2025 hearing; the court’s contempt proceedings and the tribunal’s suspension followed from that reliance and from her later false account of it. The tribunal’s main concern was her dishonesty, which is a separate act by the lawyer.","status":"reported"},"person_relations":["communicated_with"]},"name":"Ontario: lawyer who relied on ChatGPT-invented case law in a factum was referred for criminal contempt and suspended for six months, legal press reports","summary":"An Ontario lawyer relied, at a 1 May 2025 Superior Court hearing in an estate and family-law matter, on a factum citing cases that do not exist or do not support the propositions cited. The judge ordered her to show cause why she should not be cited for contempt, then withdrew the order on 20 May 2025 after she said her staff had used ChatGPT without her knowledge. On 30 September 2025 she told the court that she alone had prepared the factum with ChatGPT and that her earlier account was untrue; the court referred the matter to Ontario’s Attorney General for criminal contempt proceedings in December 2025. In July 2026 the Law Society Tribunal suspended her licence for six months, finding she relied on AI-generated non-existent case law and lied about it. The account comes from legal-press and law-firm reports of the decisions; the criminal contempt case was still ongoing at the last report read.","incidentDate":"2025-05-01","incidentKind":"single_event","incidentDatePrecision":"day","exposurePattern":"single_interaction","reportedDate":"2025-05-13","aiSystem":"ChatGPT, which the lawyer admitted using to prepare the factum and which the Law Society Tribunal found generated the non-existent or irrelevant case law","aiProduct":"ChatGPT","severity":"medium","verificationStatus":"credible","harmCategories":[],"harmOutcomes":["professional_harm","legal_harm","reputational_harm"],"harmOutcomeSummary":"According to legal-press reports of the court and tribunal decisions, the lawyer faced a contempt show-cause order and a referral for criminal contempt, and the Law Society Tribunal suspended her licence for six months and ordered her to pay $10,000 to the Law Society of Ontario; the court noted she had suffered a public shaming near the end of an unblemished career.","frameworkFacets":[],"causationStatus":"supported","participantUsersAffectedMin":1,"otherPeopleHarmedMin":0,"affectedCountStatus":"exact","affectedCountEvidence":"One person, the lawyer who used ChatGPT, is reported to have suffered the contempt proceedings and the suspension. The tribunal found she failed to serve her client, but no source read describes a concrete consequence for the client, who is not counted.","victimAgeRange":"adult","jurisdiction":"CA","platformType":"other","outcomeType":"regulatory_action","outcomeStatus":"ongoing","primarySourceUrl":"https://www.lawtimesnews.com/resources/professional-regulation/out-of-character-tribunal-explains-six-month-suspension-of-lawyer-who-lied-about-chatgpt-use/393453","primarySourceLabel":"Law Times, 21 Jul 2026: tribunal explains six-month suspension of lawyer who lied about ChatGPT use","firstPublishedAt":"2026-10-12T03:13:48.661937+00:00","updatedAt":"2026-10-12T03:13:48.661937+00:00","scopeVersion":"facts-v3","tags":["hallucinated_citations","courts","lawyer_sanction","contempt_of_court","professional_discipline","canada","ontario"]},{"id":"2025-china-bytedance-doubao-phone-assistant-app-lockouts","caseFacts":{"claims":[{"id":"c1","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"users continuously reported that after performing daily operations such as sending WeChat messages and red envelopes using the Doubao Phone Assistant, WeChat would unexpectedly quit and could not be logged in again.","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"multiple netizens expressed on social media that users operating tasks with Doubao Phone Assistant on the Nubia M153 encountered issues where WeChat would crash or even fail to log in.","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"},{"locator":"Several users of Doubao Phone confirmed the authenticity of this news to reporters.","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"},{"locator":"\"There are no special actions; it may have triggered existing security risk control measures.\"","relation":"context","source_id":"s2"}],"assertion":"On 3 December 2025 users of the Nubia M153 reported that WeChat quit unexpectedly and could not be logged in again after they used the Doubao Phone Assistant for operations such as sending messages and red envelopes.","causal_attribution":"User reports; WeChat said existing security risk controls may have been triggered and took no special action."},{"id":"c2","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"The ability to operate WeChat in the phone - operating/phone - operating pro mode of the Doubao Phone Assistant has been taken offline","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"the WeChat accounts that were blocked from logging in on the Nubia M153 will be unblocked one by one.","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"the Doubao Phone Assistant issued a statement, only stating that there was no hacking behavior during its autonomous operation of WeChat.","relation":"context","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"the phone operation function of Doubao Assistant no longer supports operating WeChat","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"}],"assertion":"ByteDance took the assistant's WeChat operation offline on 3 December and told the user group that blocked WeChat accounts would be unblocked one by one.","causal_attribution":"Statement to the Nubia M153 user group as quoted by 36Kr; not confirmed by a second source."},{"id":"c3","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"not only WeChat, but also users reported that other apps such as Alipay showed a prompt of \"abnormal login environment\" and they were unable to log in or complete payment.","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"when some people used the Doubao Phone Assistant to open a shopping platform and complete a purchase, when it came to manually entering the payment password, Alipay judged that there was a security risk in the payment environment and stopped the task midway","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"On the evening of 3 December users reported an 'abnormal login environment' prompt on Alipay and inability to log in or pay, and some users reported Alipay stopping a purchase task midway at the payment step.","causal_attribution":"User reports relayed by 36Kr; Alipay's own explanation is not quoted in the inspected sources."},{"id":"c4","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"the user was judged to have used cheats and was banned from the game for 10 minutes.","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"which led to their Pinduoduo accounts being unable to log in on the Nubia M153.","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"Users reported that after having the assistant play a mobile game for them one was judged to have used cheats and banned for 10 minutes, and that using the assistant to browse Pinduoduo videos for coins left some accounts unable to log in on the phone.","causal_attribution":"User reports relayed by 36Kr; the game and Pinduoduo operators are not quoted."},{"id":"c5","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"Soon after launch, users reported that Doubao was blocked by several major apps, including banking platforms, Tencent’s WeChat, Alibaba’s Taobao and Ant Group’s Alipay. These companies said the restrictions stemmed from standard security protocols.","relation":"supports","source_id":"s3"},{"locator":"ByteDance announced on Doubao’s official WeChat account that it would temporarily suspend several AI functions, including gaming, banking and online payment features.","relation":"supports","source_id":"s3"}],"assertion":"Banking apps, WeChat, Taobao and Alipay were reported to have blocked the assistant, the apps described the restrictions as standard security protocols, and ByteDance announced a temporary suspension of gaming, banking and online payment functions.","causal_attribution":"Nikkei Asia as relayed by Business Standard."},{"id":"c6","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"On December 1st, the technical preview version of the Doubao Phone Assistant was officially launched.","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"Last week, ByteDance launched its first AI-enabled smartphone, the Nubia M153, in partnership with device maker ZTE.","relation":"supports","source_id":"s3"}],"assertion":"The Doubao Phone Assistant technical preview was released on 1 December 2025 on the Nubia M153 made with ZTE.","causal_attribution":"Not applicable (release date context)."}],"effects":[{"label":"users report WeChat quitting and refusing login after the assistant operated the app for them","claim_id":"c1","direction":"negative"},{"label":"users report an 'abnormal login environment' prompt on Alipay and purchase tasks stopped midway","claim_id":"c3","direction":"negative"},{"label":"a user was banned from a mobile game for 10 minutes and other users could not log in to Pinduoduo on the phone after the assistant acted for them","claim_id":"c4","direction":"negative"}],"sources":[{"id":"s1","url":"https://eu.36kr.com/en/p/3580978646121604","kind":"news_report","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"Full body read by curl on 2026-09-29. It is a 36Kr English republication of an article by the WeChat account 'Power Plant' (author named in the source). The underlying user statements are not independently inspected.","independence_group":"power-plant"},{"id":"s2","url":"https://longbridge.com/en/news/268451125","kind":"news_report","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"Longbridge copy of a Wallstreetcn item (3 December 2025) that relays The Paper's reporting; read by curl on 2026-09-29. The item begins with an automatic AI summary, which is not cited. The Longbridge page shows a login notice ('unlock 6,954 characters') after the visible text; the visible text was read and is what is cited.","independence_group":"the-paper"},{"id":"s3","url":"https://www.business-standard.com/world-news/bytedance-ai-phone-doubao-nubia-zte-app-blocks-user-control-china-125120800459_1.html","kind":"news_report","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"Full body read by curl on 2026-09-29. It reports Nikkei Asia's article; the Nikkei page itself was not readable.","independence_group":"nikkei"}],"version":1,"ai_roles":["own_use"],"contexts":["everyday_life","finance"],"unknowns":["How many users had accounts blocked or payments stopped.","Whether all blocked WeChat accounts were restored and how long each lockout lasted.","Whether the platforms' risk controls acted on the assistant's automated operation specifically. WeChat and the other apps attribute the blocks to existing security controls without confirming this.","The Nikkei Asia, SCMP, Tech in Asia and Gizmochina articles were not readable and were not cited.","The Longbridge copy of The Paper item shows a login notice for additional characters after the visible text; only the visible text was read."],"geography":{"basis":"Business Standard (relaying Nikkei) places the dispute among 'China's biggest technology companies' and 36Kr prices the phone in yuan. Countries of residence of the affected users are not stated.","court_countries":[],"event_countries":["CN"],"affected_person_countries":[]},"publication":{"basis":"Published as a concrete bounded series in which users of an agentic phone assistant report app login lockouts, stopped Alipay purchase tasks and a game ban after the assistant operated apps for them. The account rests on user statements relayed by media, the number of affected users is unknown, and the platforms attribute the blocks to routine risk controls.","reviewed_on":"2026-09-29"},"ai_involvement":{"basis":"36Kr and The Paper describe the failures as following the users' use of the Doubao Phone Assistant to operate apps, and ByteDance took the assistant's WeChat operation offline in response. The platforms attribute the blocks to existing risk controls, and no platform confirmed a decision aimed at the assistant specifically.","status":"supported"},"person_relations":["acted_on_behalf"]},"name":"China: buyers of the ByteDance/ZTE Nubia M153 report WeChat, Alipay and Pinduoduo login lockouts, stopped Alipay payments and a 10-minute game ban after using the Doubao phone assistant to operate apps for them","summary":"ByteDance released the technical preview of its Doubao Phone Assistant on 1 December 2025 on the ZTE Nubia M153, an assistant that operates other apps on the user's behalf. On 3 December, 36Kr reports that users in the Nubia M153 user group said WeChat quit unexpectedly and could not be logged in again after they used the assistant to send messages and red envelopes, and The Paper (via Wallstreetcn) reports that users confirmed WeChat crashes and login failures. 36Kr also reports users seeing an 'abnormal login environment' prompt on Alipay, Alipay purchase tasks stopped midway, a 10-minute ban from a mobile game after the assistant played for a user, and Pinduoduo accounts that could not log in on the phone after the assistant was used to browse videos for coins. WeChat told The Paper it took no special action and that existing risk controls may have been triggered. ByteDance took the assistant's WeChat operation offline, said blocked WeChat accounts would be unblocked one by one, and, according to Nikkei Asia as relayed by Business Standard on 8 December, announced a temporary suspension of gaming, banking and online payment functions. The reports rest on user statements relayed by media, and the number of affected users is not stated.","incidentDate":"2025-12-03","incidentKind":"bounded_series","incidentDatePrecision":"day","exposurePattern":"repeated_interactions","reportedDate":"2025-12-03","aiSystem":"Doubao Phone Assistant (ByteDance), an agentic assistant with system-level permissions that operates other apps on the Nubia M153 phone by simulating touches","aiProduct":"Doubao Phone Assistant","aiCompany":"ByteDance","severity":"low","verificationStatus":"unverified","harmCategories":[],"harmOutcomes":["functional_impairment"],"harmOutcomeSummary":"Users say WeChat, Alipay and Pinduoduo logins failed on their phones after the Doubao Phone Assistant operated the apps for them, Alipay stopped some purchase tasks midway and one user was banned from a game for 10 minutes; ByteDance told the user group blocked WeChat accounts would be unblocked one by one (36Kr, The Paper; user statements, number not stated).","frameworkFacets":[],"causationStatus":"alleged","participantUsersAffectedMin":0,"otherPeopleHarmedMin":0,"affectedCountStatus":"unquantified","affectedCountEvidence":"The inspected sources say 'users' or 'several users' reported problems and describe individual users (one game ban, some Pinduoduo and Alipay cases) without a count. Numeric zeros are placeholders. The 30,000 units sold (Nikkei via Business Standard) are not a harmed count.","victimAgeRange":"unknown","jurisdiction":"CN","platformType":"agent","outcomeType":"media_coverage","outcomeStatus":"ongoing","primarySourceUrl":"https://eu.36kr.com/en/p/3580978646121604","primarySourceLabel":"36Kr: Doubao Mobile Hits Snags in First Battle: AI Fails to Penetrate Internet Ecosystem Barriers","firstPublishedAt":"2026-09-29T12:41:53.180552+00:00","updatedAt":"2026-09-30T01:16:59.331721+00:00","scopeVersion":"facts-v3","tags":["historical-2025","doubao","bytedance","agentic-phone","account-lockout","acted-on-behalf","china"]}]}