Anthropic will verify the identities of Claude users; have your ID card and passport ready.

Anthropic sent an email to Claude users informing them of an important update to its privacy policy. The main change concerns the addition of a new category called “Verification data,” meaning “verification data.”From July 8, 2026, the American company will reserve the right to ask certain users to prove their age or identity.

“As part of our measures to maintain the security of our services, we may ask you to verify your age or identity”, explains Anthropic in its new terms of use.

In practice, the start-up may request that users upload an official identity document, such as a passport, driver’s license, or national identity card. Photocopies, screenshots, and temporary documents are not accepted. In some cases, Anthropic may also request a selfie, which should make it possible to prove that you are indeed the holder of the identity documents provided.

These changes apply only to general public accounts, namely the free version of Claude, Claude Pro, and Claude Max. Professional users under contract are not affected. Users of Team, Enterprise, or Developer plans are subject to separate terms and conditions. These do not mention identity verification, at least not yet.

Also read: Anthropic vs. Trump, China, an Amazon warning…The story behind the suspension of Claude Fable 5 and Mythos 5

Data entrusted to a third party

As expected, the processing of all this sensitive data is not handled by Anthropic.The company entrusted this task to Persona, a service provider specializing in identity verification. The data is encrypted during transmission and storage, and access is limited to specific cases, such as account verification or a possible appeal. Furthermore, Anthropic says that Persona is “contractually limited” in how it can use this sensitive information. The company is only authorized to use the data to provide and improve its verification services and to prevent fraud.

Anthropic adds that it does not sell user data, that Claude remains ad-free, and that users can choose not to authorize the use of their conversations for model training. The policy also establishes an explicit separation between verification data and training data. In plain terms, your identity document will never be used to train future versions of AI. Anthropic also promises that the data will “never be shared with third parties for marketing, advertising, or any other purpose unrelated to verification and compliance”.

Data collection that raises concerns

Despite Anthropic’s clarifications, it is legitimate to be concerned about the data that will be collected by Persona. Last February, researchers discovered a flaw in the system of the American startup specializing in KYC (Know Your Customer).The company had in fact left an interface openly accessible on the Internet, which contained 2,456 files about users. Persona responded by stating that the interface was merely a test environment isolated from the production systems, and that no personal data had been disclosed.

It is also regrettable that Anthropic did not elaborate on the retention period for biometric data. Moreover, it is not precisely clear in which specific cases a user will be asked to verify their identity and age. In the event of refusal, the account appears to be suspended, or even severely restricted in its capabilities.

By verifying the identity of Claude users, Anthropic is seeking to comply with the age-verification legislation currently being adopted in Europe and the United States. This is the first major public-facing AI platform to cross this threshold so explicitly. For its part, OpenAI currently relies onan algorithmic age-prediction system, which continuously analyzes users’ behavioral signals, such as login times, topics discussed, writing style, and account age, to estimate whether they are under 18. If the algorithm concludes that a user is a minor, content restrictions are automatically applied. At OpenAI, formal identity verification, using a selfie or an identity document, is only useful when an adult wants to lift restrictions mistakenly applied to their account by the algorithms.In this case, OpenAI is also turning to Persona.

A way to comply with Donald Trump’s demands?

This change to the terms of use comes just a few days after the suspension of Fable 5 and Mythos 5. . The Trump administration indeed demanded that Anthropic cut off access to the two leading models for “any foreign national, inside or outside the United States.” Unable to identify foreign nationals, the startup preferred to disable both versions of Claude worldwide. The introduction of “Verification data” into the privacy policy gives Anthropic the technical tools to identify and exclude users based on nationality, as Washington had demanded.

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