Anthropic requires ID verification for Claude users as privacy concerns mount over biometric data

Anthropic says Claude may want to see your ID

Anthropic may ask Claude users to verify their age and identity by uploading their 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 having their account flagged for potentially fraudulent activity rather than outright banning them, but comes at a time as Anthropic seeks to placate the Trump administration amid an ongoing standoff over who gets access to the company's AI tools. According to a new section in its latest privacy policy published earlier in June and set to take effect on July 8, Anthropic says it will ask for 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 earlier this year introduced age verification checks to comply with various states and countries that require them. Identity checks were also announced, but weren't reflected in the company's privacy policy until more recently. When triggered, the policy would require those users to upload a photo scan of a government-issued passport or driver's license. Anthropic says it will also collect a person's selfie photo or video and the person's digitized version as a face geometry template (which some states, like Illinois, considers legally protected biometric data). Anthropic says it will also keep a record of the verification result, such as whether the user has reached a certain age. When reached by TechCrunch, Anthropic spokesperson Michael Aciman shared a link to an X post from Anthropic's Thariq Shihpar saying that the change applies only to a "small subset of users" whose accounts are flagged but not outright banned. (Anthropic's spokesperson would not say how many users is a subset, but the company is thought to have tens of millions of users monthly.) "[Anthropic's identity verification policy] was updated on June 17 as an update to the appeals process," said Shihpar in the post. "It's unrelated to the Fable or Mythos rollout." Anthropic said it is allowed to require users to upload a copy of their IDs for a number of reasons, such as for requiring users to verify themselves for creating and administering their Claude account, and enforcing its terms of service, such as to prevent and investigate fraud, abuse, and violations of its terms, including unlawful or criminal conduct, and to investigate and resolve security issues. The move to keep closer tabs of who is using Anthropic's AI tools may be one way for the company to comply with a variety of ongoing legal challenges, regulatory changes, and inbound pressures from the Trump administration. The tech giant remains largely at an impasse with the White House, more than a week after Trump officials effectively forced Anthropic to pull its latest cybersecurity models over allegations that an apparent jailbreak could break the models' guardrails. Other reports have pointed to personality clashes between the company and the Trump administration as the greater culprit of the breakdown in relations. This latest clash comes months after the Department of Defense designated Anthropic a "supply chain risk", apparently in retaliation for not allowing the government to use its technology for mass domestic surveillance or powering fully autonomous weapons. Anthropic said it uses the San Francisco-based company Persona as its identity checking provider, and that users may "see a verification prompt when accessing certain capabilities, as part of our routine platform integrity checks, or other safety and compliance measures." Anthropic said that it decides for how long Persona retains its users' identity documents, but Anthropic's spokesperson did not immediately say when the data was deleted. (For context, Roblox, another customer of Persona, says users' images are deleted "immediately" after they are processed, limiting the chance of the information later being leaked or stolen.) Persona can still face U.S. government demands for users' information that it stores on its servers. Persona is backed by Founder's Fund, an investment firm founded by Trump backer Peter Thiel, who also invests in Anthropic. The identity checking firm has faced criticism from users for its links to Thiel. Earlier this year, Discord chose Persona for its age verification checks then quickly reneged following user backlash for choosing Persona.

Anthropic's New ID Checks for Claude Won't Save Fable 5 From Trump's Ban

Anthropic updated its privacy policy earlier this month, including a new clause stipulating that Claude users would be required to verify their age or identity "in certain circumstances" by uploading an image of a government-issued ID, such as a driver's license or passport, and it didn't take long for the outrage machine and rumor mill to start churning. Some people claimed the new age-verification requirement was the harbinger of a dark new era for the internet, one in which anyone hoping to access a particular service must first prove their identity to one of the major tech giants, all of whom would serve effectively as digital bouncers. Such worries were stoked by Anthropic's tapping of Peter Thiel-backed software company Persona Identities to build out its age-verification mechanisms. Persona sparked a controversy earlier this year after researchers found the company had been checking users' private biometric data against government watchlists, prompting Discord to scrap its own plan to implement age-verification measures in partnership with the company. Persona's roster of current partners includes OpenAI, Lyft, Square, Reddit, and LinkedIn. Meanwhile, others speculated that Anthropic's new age-verification requirement could enable the company to keep tabs on its users following a recent order from the Trump administration to cut off access to its newest models, Fable 5 and Mythos 5, to all foreign nationals both inside and outside the U.S. The argument there is that if it chose to, Anthropic could appease the government by granting access only to users who are able to prove their U.S. citizenship. The common thread here is a sense of anxiety that tech companies, under pressure from the whims of the government, might be able to arbitrarily force private citizens to prove their identity before accessing vital online tools or services, in the same way they would before buying a case of beer or boarding a plane. Such a future would obviously be starkly at odds with the free and open ethos upon which the internet was originally built, not to mention with the democratic-utopian ideal frequently touted by many leaders in Silicon Valley, including Anthropic. The company has worked hard to position itself as a leader in safe, responsible, and human-centered AI. Taking a step back Anthropic's latest clash with the Trump administration has very much dominated its media presence lately, making it pretty much inevitable that any new announcements from the company will be interpreted through a political lens. And given its recent ascendency to the very forefront of the AI race, it's also expected -- reasonable, in fact -- that its every move will cause some people to worry about their intentions. Having said that, there are some important details about the company's new privacy policy to keep in mind. First of all, Anthropic's plans to implement an age-verification mechanism long predate the Trump administration's Fable/Mythos ban. While the company's privacy policy was officially updated on June 08 (and is scheduled to go into effect July 08), it announced back in December that Claude would begin flagging users suspected of being under the age of 18, and that those users' account would be automatically deactivated. Four months later, in April, the company said it was working with Persona to build an age-verification mechanism through which some users would be asked to upload an image of government-issued ID, such as a passport or driver's license, as well as a "live selfie" using a smartphone or other device. Anthropic wrote in that announcement that "Persona is contractually limited in how they can use your data: only to provide and support verification and to improve their ability to prevent fraud. They're bound to protect it with industry-standard security controls and delete it in line with the retention limits we've set and applicable law." The announcement also added that identity data would not be shared with any third parties or used to train AI models. Anthropic, for its part, denies any such link between its age-verification policy and Trump's ban. In response to a disgruntled X post from a user who said they planned to stop using Claude due to Anthropic's ties with Persona Identities, Thariq Shihipar, a software engineer at Anthropic, said the update "applies only to a small subset of users" and that it was "unrelated to the Fable or Mythos rollout," and presumably the company's ongoing deliberations with the Trump administration to lift the ban on those models. As for the claim that Anthropic could use age-verification as a means of enforcing a ban against foreign nationals from using its models, it's important to bear in mind that uploading a government-issued ID doesn't always prove U.S. citizenship: In most states, driver's licenses don't include that information, and licenses can also be obtained by foreign nationals staying in the country on a visa. Proving one's age and proving one's citizenship, in other words, are not one and the same. But even if Anthropic's age-verification mechanisms are entirely unrelated to its ongoing negotiations with the White House, that of course doesn't make them entirely benign. AI tools aren't just some obscure corner of the internet; they're increasingly becoming the very operating system upon which the entire online ecosystem is being built. Any steps that a major AI developer takes to gate access to its tools for any reason should therefore be closely and carefully scrutinized.

Anthropic's new privacy policy collects biometric data from flagged Claude users

Anthropic's updated privacy policy requires some Claude users to submit government IDs and selfies for identity verification. Anthropic has updated its privacy policy to allow the company to require some Claude users to upload government-issued identification and submit selfie photos or videos for identity verification. The updated policy, which takes effect on July 8, introduces a new category of personal data collection that includes facial geometry templates, a data type that may qualify as biometric information under state privacy laws. The change was first reported by TechCrunch, which obtained details of the updated identity verification policy published on June 17. Anthropic spokesperson Thariq Shihipar told the outlet the requirement applies to a "small subset of users" whose accounts have been flagged for potential policy violations but not outright banned, giving them a path to appeal through identity verification rather than losing access entirely. Accepted documents include passports, driver's licences, state or provincial IDs, and national identity cards. Digital IDs, screenshots, and photocopies are not accepted. Users who submit verification materials will also be asked to provide a selfie photo or video, which the system uses to generate a facial geometry template for matching against the submitted document. Anthropic is not handling the verification internally. The company uses Persona, a San Francisco-based identity-checking platform, to process the documents and biometric data. Persona is backed by Founders Fund, the venture firm led by Peter Thiel, who is also an investor in Anthropic through that same fund. That connection has drawn scrutiny before. Discord selected Persona for its age verification system in February 2026, then reversed course after users objected to sharing government IDs with a firm tied to Thiel. A separate security incident revealed that Persona data had been found on a US government-authorised endpoint, with roughly 2,500 accessible files, though the scope and sensitivity of those files has not been fully detailed. The facial geometry data Anthropic now collects is particularly sensitive from a legal standpoint. Illinois's Biometric Information Privacy Act classifies facial geometry as biometric data and imposes penalties of $1,000 to $5,000 per violation for companies that collect it without proper consent. Facebook settled a BIPA class action for $650 million in 2021, and the law has since become the benchmark for biometric privacy litigation in the United States. Shihipar said the identity verification policy is "unrelated to the Fable or Mythos rollout," referring to the Trump administration's order forcing Anthropic to disable its most powerful AI models earlier this month. But the timing is difficult to separate from the broader tensions between the company and Washington, which have included a Pentagon supply-chain risk designation, an export-control shutdown of Fable 5 and Mythos 5, and reports that Amazon CEO Andy Jassy raised security concerns about Anthropic's models directly with the White House. Anthropic has tens of millions of monthly users, and the company insists the verification requirement will affect only a small fraction of them. But for a company that has built its brand on safety and responsible AI deployment, asking users to hand over passport scans and facial biometrics to a Thiel-backed vendor introduces a trust question that technical reassurances alone may not resolve. President Trump signalled last week that he no longer views Anthropic as a national security threat, following a G7 meeting with CEO Dario Amodei. Whether that diplomatic thaw extends to the regulatory pressures that may have motivated tighter user verification remains an open question.

Claude Users Could Face New ID Checks, Anthropic Says | PYMNTS.com

The policy would apply to certain consumer use cases and is aimed at preventing abuse, enforcing usage rules and meeting legal obligations, according to Anthropic's help center. TechCrunch said the company's updated approach reflects a broader tightening of safeguards around AI access as model makers face pressure to reduce fraud, underage use and other policy violations. Anthropic said verification data would be used only to confirm identity and would not be used to train its models, according to its support materials. The company's help page said identity checks may appear in specific situations, including routine platform integrity reviews and other safety or compliance measures. Anthropic also said it chose Persona Identities as its verification partner and that ID and selfie data are held by Persona rather than stored on Anthropic's systems, though the company can access records when needed for appeals or similar reviews. TechCrunch reported that the change could affect how consumers experience Claude, especially if identity checks become more common across paid and free tiers. Anthropic said the process is designed to collect the minimum information necessary and that users may have multiple attempts if verification fails. This move is the latest development in a turbulent year for Anthropic. Earlier this month, the company launched and then suspended access to its Mythos model after the U.S. government raised security concerns about how the startup could use the technology. The move underscores the growing scrutiny AI providers face as they weigh commercial access against national security and policy risks, and it suggests Anthropic is taking a more cautious approach to customer relationships where sensitive government objections are involved. In May, Anthropic became the most valuable AI startup in the world after a series H funding round valued the company at $965 billion. As of the same month, Anthropic was on track to post its first operating profit in Q2 2026.

Going Forward, Claude May Want To Check Your ID

Given the challenges around age verification that came forth after AI-led self-harm instances, it looks like Anthropic is once again taking the lead in fixing something for others to follow Anthropic had shared an updated privacy policy recently and by the looks of it, the company plans to start implementing some of the measures right away. For starters, Claude users may have to verify their age and identity via government-issued documents. Yes, this wasn't part of the original policy document but has been added now in response to suggestions around letting users appeal against having their account flagged for potentially fraudulent activity, instead of imposing an outright ban. Does the recent fracas with the Trump administration have anything to do with this move? Well, your guess is as good as ours. The latest privacy policy (read our report here) came in June and appeared mysteriously in sync with the Trump administration's stated views. Not that it mattered much to President Trump who once again took down Anthropic globally by asking them to restrict access to their latest models on grounds of national security. Which is why we believe that 'Operation Placation' might just be on now. From July 8, which is when the new policy comes into effect, users will have to prove their age or identity "in certain circumstances." But, what those are is still left to our imagination. Of course, there are those who may argue that there's nothing new here, given that Anthropic had always required users to be over 18 for getting into Claude. Additionally, they also introduced age-verification checks earlier this year to comply with state laws domestically as well as in some countries. This was also followed by identity checks. So, what exactly is going to change now? It appears that the policy would need users to upload an image scan of a government-issued document such as a driving license or passport. In addition, Anthropic would also seek a selfie picture or video of the person as well as a digitised version in the form of a face geometry template. The AI giant says it would store a copy of the record from this verification process in order to ascertain whether the user has reached a certain age. Thariq, an employee of Anthropic shared via his X handle about the rollout while categorically stating that it was unrelated to the Mythos or Fable rollout. He also said that the changes apply to only a "small subset of users flagged for potentially fraudulent activity instead of outright banning them." Of course, there is no clarity on the size of this subset given that Claude boasts of tens of millions of users monthly. The company noted that per its policy document, it could ask users to upload a copy of their IDs for several reasons that includes a verification process for creating and administering their Claude account, enforcing terms of service that includes fraud prevention and abuse, and other violations including unlawful or criminal conduct. It also is essential to the process of seeking criminal investigation in case of security issues.