Anthropic has rolled out identity verification for Claude, requiring some users to submit a government-issued photo ID and a live selfie to access certain features. The company has partnered with Persona Identities, a US-based verification firm backed by Peter Thiel’s Founders Fund, to process the data.
The move comes two months after Anthropic refused to let the US Pentagon use Claude for mass surveillance of Americans, won a court injunction over the resulting retaliation, and saw its user base surge as privacy-conscious users fled OpenAI.
What verification requires and when it triggers: Anthropic has not publicly specified which features require verification or what exact user behaviour prompts a check. Based on its support page and user reports, verification appears to trigger in four situations:
- Repeated usage policy violations
- Access from unsupported locations such as China, Russia, or Iran
- Terms of service violations
- Suspected under-18 usage
Some users have also reported being prompted when signing up for the Claude Max subscription tier, though Anthropic has not confirmed which subscription plans are affected. Accepted documents include passports, driver’s licences, and national identity cards. Anthropic does not accept photocopies, digital IDs, or student credentials. Persona holds users’ ID and selfie data, not Anthropic’s systems, and Anthropic contractually limits Persona to using the data only for verification and fraud prevention. However, Anthropic does not disclose the data retention period.
MediaNama reported on April 15 that Anthropic incorrectly flagged adult users as minors and suspended their accounts using a separate vendor, Yoti, with multiple Pro Plan subscribers losing access to their accounts and conversation histories.
The Persona problem: Persona is backed by Peter Thiel’s Founders Fund. Palantir, co-founded by Thiel, counts the FBI, CIA, and US Immigration and Customs Enforcement among its customers, with its technology primarily used to expand government surveillance using facial recognition and AI.
In February 2026, researchers discovered Persona’s frontend exposed on a US government-authorised server, with files indicating the software:
- Performed facial recognition scans against watchlists
- Screened users for adverse media
- Generated risk scores for users
- Retained data for up to three years
Discord cut ties with Persona after the controversy, though no evidence surfaced of user data flowing into government systems. Anthropic has chosen Persona regardless.
The surveillance contradiction: In February, millions of users left OpenAI for Anthropic after OpenAI signed a deal to deploy AI on Pentagon classified networks. Free signups jumped 60% since January. The reason: Anthropic had refused to let Claude be used by the US military for mass surveillance of Americans or autonomous weapons. When Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth demanded that Anthropic…
Source link
Disclaimer
We strive to uphold the highest ethical standards in all of our reporting and coverage. We blogs.grocliq.com want to be transparent with our readers about any potential conflicts of interest that may arise in our work. It’s possible that some of the investors we feature may have connections to other businesses, including competitors or companies we write about. However, we want to assure our readers that this will not have any impact on the integrity or impartiality of our reporting. We are committed to delivering accurate, unbiased news and information to our audience, and we will continue to uphold our ethics and principles in all of our work. Thank you for your trust and support.
Website Upgradation is going on for any glitch kindly connect at [email protected]
