In the anime, PharaohMan was a powerful NetNavi, so much that Lord Wily once referred to him as a god. He was originally created to monitor and guide the flow of data across the Net and had full access to it as a result. He was put to sleep by Dr. Hikari once it was discovered that he had been infected by a virus. Also there were fears, as Commander Beef put it, that all that power would ultimately corrupt the Navi.

(Source: Megaman Knowledge Base)