Claude implements identity verification for certain use cases

Identity verification requirements for Claude

Anthropic is implementing identity verification for Claude to prevent abuse, enforce usage policies, and comply with legal obligations. The verification is being rolled out for specific use cases and may appear during routine platform integrity checks or safety measures.

Verification process details

To complete identity verification, users need:

• A valid government-issued photo ID (physical document, not digital)
• A phone or computer with camera for live selfie
• Under five minutes for the process

Accepted ID types include passports, driver's licenses, state/provincial ID cards, and national identity cards from most countries. IDs must be original, physical, government-issued, clearly legible, undamaged, and include a photo.

Not accepted: photocopies, screenshots, scans, photos of photos, digital/mobile IDs, non-government IDs (student IDs, employee badges), or temporary paper IDs.

Data protection and privacy

Anthropic uses Persona Identities as their verification partner. Persona collects and holds the ID and selfie data, not Anthropic. Anthropic can access verification records through Persona's platform when needed (e.g., for appeals) but doesn't copy or store the images themselves.

Persona is contractually limited to using data only for verification, fraud prevention, and support. All data is encrypted in transit and at rest. Verification data is not used to train models, not shared with third parties for marketing, and stays between the user, Persona, and Anthropic except where legally required.

Verification failures and account issues

If verification fails due to blurry photos, unreadable documents, expired IDs, or technical issues, users can retry within the verification flow. Most failures are resolved by retaking photos in better lighting or using a different government-issued photo ID.

Accounts may be banned after verification for reasons including repeated Usage Policy violations, account creation from unsupported locations, Terms of Service violations, or under-18 usage. Users can appeal bans through a form for investigation by the Safeguards team.