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 drop those restrictions, CEO Dario Amodei refused.

The Pentagon designated Anthropic a “supply chain risk,” a label previously reserved for Chinese firms Huawei and ZTE. Pentagon officials later admitted on record there was “no evidence of supply-chain risk” and that the goal was to “make sure they pay a price.”

A federal judge sided with Anthropic on March 24, calling the government’s actions First Amendment retaliation.

The same company now asks Indian users to hand over a government ID and a live selfie to a Peter Thiel-backed verification firm whose infrastructure researchers recently found sitting on a US government-authorised server.

The India angle: India’s Digital Personal Data Protection (DPDP) Act, 2023 requires data fiduciaries to meet government-set conditions before transferring personal data abroad under the DPDP Rules, 2025. Anthropic has not clarified whether Indian users’ verification data flows to Persona’s US-based servers or what legal basis it relies on for that transfer.

This matters because the DPDP Rules may directly conflict with the US Reforming Intelligence and Securing America Act (RISAA), which compels US-based companies to share data of foreign citizens with American intelligence agencies.

MediaNama has reached out to Anthropic with the following questions and will update the story if a response is received:

• Does Anthropic collect identity verification data from Indian users? If so, does that data flow to Persona’s US-based servers?
• What is the legal basis Anthropic relies on for transferring Indian users’ biometric and identity data outside India under the DPDP Act, 2023?
• What is the data retention period for verification data collected from Indian users?
• Which specific features or capabilities on Claude trigger identity verification?
• Given Anthropic’s public refusal to allow Claude to be used for mass surveillance of Americans, how does the company justify partnering with Persona Identities, a firm backed by Peter Thiel’s Founders Fund, whose infrastructure researchers recently found on a US government-authorised server?
• Has Anthropic received any requests from US government agencies for verification data collected from non-US users, including Indian users?

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