Anthropic may ask Claude users to verify their age and identity by uploading government-issued documents, according to a new version of the company’s privacy policy.
The AI giant says the move was to allow users to appeal their account flagging for potential fraudulent activity rather than ban them outright, but it comes as Anthropic tries to reassure the Trump administration amid an ongoing standoff over who has access to the company’s AI tools.
According to a new section of latest privacy policy Announced earlier in June and set to go into effect on July 8, Anthropic says it will ask a user to prove their age or identity “in certain circumstances,” without providing specific examples.
While Anthropic has long required users to be over 18 to use Claude, the company introduced earlier this year age checks to comply with various states and countries that require them. Identity checks were done was also announced but were not reflected in the company’s privacy policy until recently.
When activated, the policy would require such users to upload a scan of a government-issued passport or driver’s license photo. Anthropic says it will also collect a person’s selfie photo or video and the digitized version of the person as a facial geometry template (which some states, like Illinois, consider legally protected biometric data). Anthropic says it will also keep a record of the result of the verification, such as whether the user has reached a certain age.
When reached by TechCrunch, Anthropic spokesperson Michael Aciman shared a link to a X post from Anthropic’s Thariq Shihipar, saying the change only applies to a “small subset of users” whose accounts have been flagged but not banned outright. (The Anthropic spokesperson did not say how many users are a subset, but the company is believed to have tens of millions of monthly users.)
“[Anthropic’s identity verification policy] updated on June 17 as an appeals process update,” Shihipar said in the post. “Not related to the release of Fable or Mythos.”
Humane he said it is allowed to require users to upload a copy of their identities for various reasons, such as requiring users to be verified to create and manage their Claude account and to enforce its terms of service, such as to prevent and investigate fraud, abuse and violations of its terms, including illegal or criminal conduct, and to investigate and resolve security issues.
The move to more closely monitor who uses Anthropic’s AI tools may be a way for the company to comply with a series of ongoing legal challenges, regulatory changes and incoming pressure from the Trump administration.
The tech giant remains largely at odds with the White House, more than a week after Trump officials effectively forced Anthropic to withdraw its latest cybersecurity models over claims that an apparent jailbreak could breach the models’ security bars. Other reports have pointed to personality clashes between the company and the Trump administration as the biggest culprit in the breakdown of relations.
This latest conflict comes months after the Defense Department labeled Anthropic a “supply chain risk,” apparently in retaliation for not allowing the government to use its technology for mass domestic surveillance or the supply of fully autonomous weapons.
Anthropic said it uses San Francisco-based company Persona authentication provider and that users may “see a verification message when accessing certain features as part of normal platform integrity checks or other security and compliance measures.”
Anthropic said it decides how long Persona will keep its users’ identity documents, but an Anthropic spokesman did not immediately say when the data was deleted. (For context, Roblox, another Persona client, says users’ images are deleted “immediately” after it is processed, reducing the possibility that the information will later be leaked or stolen.)
Persona may still address US government requests for user information it stores on its servers.
Persona is backed by Founders Fund, an investment firm founded by Trump supporter Peter Thiel, which also invests in Anthropic. The authentication company has faced criticism from users for its ties to Thiel. Earlier this year, Discord chose Persona for its age verification checks, and then quickly dismissed user backlash for choosing Persona.
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