Anthropic Claude Identity Verification Policy

Anthropic implements identity verification for Claude

Anthropic is rolling out identity verification for specific use cases within Claude to prevent platform abuse, enforce usage policies, and meet legal obligations. Users may encounter verification prompts when accessing certain capabilities, during routine platform integrity checks, or as part of safety and compliance measures.

Verification process and requirements

Anthropic has partnered with Persona Identities to handle the verification process. To complete verification, users must provide original, physical government-issued photo IDs from most supported countries. The ID must be clearly legible, undamaged, and include a photo of the user. In some instances, users may also be required to provide a live selfie via a phone or webcam to confirm their identity.

Data protection and privacy claims

Anthropic states that verification data is used exclusively to confirm identity and not for any other purpose, including model training. According to the company, verification data remains between the user, Persona, and Anthropic, except when required by valid legal processes. For further details, users are directed to Anthropic's Privacy Policy.

Account bans and failures

Verification can fail due to technical issues, such as blurry photos, unreadable documents, or expired IDs. Anthropic also notes that accounts may be banned during the safety process for various reasons. Users who believe their accounts were wrongly suspended can submit an appeal form through the Claude.ai login page.

Community reaction and privacy concerns

The introduction of identity verification has met with strong opposition from the developer and AI community, with many users citing privacy risks and the choice of verification partner as primary concerns.

Concerns over Persona Identities

Many users expressed distrust toward Persona, citing its ties to Peter Thiel and reports of past data exposure incidents. Some users pointed out that while Anthropic claims not to use the data for training, Persona's own terms may allow them to use data to "improve their ability to prevent fraud," which users interpret as a form of model training.

"Most importantly, they state 'We [Anthropic] are not using your identity data to train our models' but 'Persona [...] can use your data [...] to improve their ability to prevent fraud.' -- in other words, Persona can (and will) use your data to train their models."

Surveillance and geopolitical implications

Critics argue that linking government IDs to AI usage creates a surveillance mechanism that could be exploited by government agencies. There are concerns that this move signals a shift away from the democratization of AI toward a restricted model where access is controlled by national identity.

"So when the FBI comes to Claude, it will be that much easier now to track down exactly how they have been using the LLM."

Other users noted that such measures are ineffective against sophisticated state actors who can acquire fake IDs, while primarily penalizing legitimate users and non-US citizens.

Impact on user retention and market shift

The requirement for ID verification has led some users to cancel their subscriptions or migrate to alternative models. Users have cited a preference for locally hosted open-source models or intermediaries like OpenRouter to avoid direct identity disclosure.

"The restrictions on LLM models... has created a viable international LLM market... Adding US based identity verification through Persona is also incredibly off-putting. I think it's sufficient to kill my use of Claude altogether."

Comparison with industry trends

Some users noted that OpenAI employs similar verification checks and warned that failing these checks can lead to permanent lockouts from top-tier models, emphasizing the importance of high-quality ID scans during the process.