In March 2023, Italy's data protection authority ordered OpenAI to stop processing Italian users' data immediately, making it the first Western country to ban ChatGPT. The regulator cited lack of legal basis for collecting user data, no age verification to prevent children's access, and ChatGPT's tendency to generate false information about real people. The ban lasted a month before OpenAI implemented changes to comply. The move triggered data protection reviews of ChatGPT across the EU.