Claude identity verification will be required in some situations starting July 8, 2026, Anthropic said, and users may need to submit a government photo ID and a live selfie through its verification partner, Persona, in a process Anthropic says takes less than five minutes.
How Claude identity verification will work
Anthropic said in a support article on its help center that the verification flow will ask users to upload a passport, driver license, or national identity card, and to take a live selfie using a phone or computer camera.
The company said copies, screenshots, scans, electronic ID files, student cards, employee badges, bank cards, and temporary paper documents will not be accepted.
Anthropic said the verification partner is Persona, and that Persona will collect and store submitted document images and selfies, while Anthropic may view verification records through the Persona platform but will not copy or store the images itself, the company wrote in its revised privacy policy.
What data Anthropic will treat as verification material
Anthropic’s updated privacy policy lists “verification data” as a separate category and says it includes document images, document numbers, dates of birth, facial geometry templates, and verification outcomes.
The policy notes some jurisdictions may consider those elements to be biometric data, and Anthropic said it will use verification information only to confirm identity and to meet legal and security obligations, not to train models or for marketing and advertising.
What this means for Hong Kong users
Anthropic’s supported locations page does not list Hong Kong among official service areas, and some Hong Kong users who access Claude from outside a supported region may face new account risks under the expanded verification regime, the company warned on its support site.
Anthropic said accounts belonging to people under 18, accounts that violate the service terms, or accounts originating from unsupported locations may be disabled as part of security procedures.
Developers and users on Threads, Facebook, and a Hacker News discussion have focused on two questions: whether they are willing to provide government ID and a live selfie to use AI tools, and whether Claude will remain a reliable work tool for users outside the United States or outside Anthropic’s supported locations.
What to watch after July 8
After the policy takes effect, users and observers will be watching how often Claude identity verification is triggered, which features require verification first, and whether accounts from unsupported regions are proactively disabled.
For people who rely on Claude for writing, software development, or paid subscriptions, the immediate concern is not only the model’s performance, but whether their accounts can continue to operate under the new verification rules.
Anthropic’s support article and privacy policy detail the program and its limits; users seeking more information should consult Anthropic’s help center and the company’s privacy statement for the official guidance.
