Claude May Request an ID: Anthropic's New Policy
Anthropic has added a section called Verification Data to its privacy policy, which provides the possibility for a small group of users of Claude to upload a government-issued ID and a selfie to verify their identity. This change was introduced on June 17, 2026, and will take effect on July 8.
The verification does not apply to all users but to a restricted subset: accounts flagged for potential violations but not banned, who are offered a path for appeal instead of a permanent suspension. The procedure applies to consumer users on the Free, Pro, and Max plans, while business, enterprise, and API customers remain excluded.
What is Collected, and by Whom
The requested data is diverse and sensitive in nature. The policy lists the image of the government-issued ID and the information contained therein, such as ID number and date of birth; the user's image in the form of a photo or video; facial geometry templates, which in some jurisdictions may be considered biometric data; and the outcome of the verification. Acceptable documents include passports, driver's licenses, state or provincial IDs, and national ID cards in physical original form, not in digital version, screenshots, or photocopies.
The procedure is not managed directly by Anthropic but by Persona Identities, a San Francisco-based company specializing in KYC verification. The significant detail is the ownership: Persona is funded by Founders Fund, the venture capital fund co-founded by Peter Thiel, the same fund that is an investor in Anthropic. Biometric verification through Persona, moreover, has been active on Claude in a limited form since April, prior to the formal policy update.
Where the Data Goes, and the Precedents
Verification data is stored on Persona’s servers, not on Anthropic’s. The company sets the retention limits but has not disclosed the actual deletion times. Another Persona client, Roblox, claims to delete user images immediately after processing, while there is no equivalent term for Claude. There are also more than a few doubts regarding the real confidentiality of the collected data, as what is stored by Persona appears to be exposed to requests for access from the U.S. government.
Discord chose Persona for age verification in February, only to backtrack after user protests regarding the company's ties to Thiel. Legally, the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act classifies facial geometry templates as biometric data and provides for penalties ranging from $1,000 to $5,000 for violations: in 2021, Facebook settled a class action founded on that law for $650 million.
Regarding the timing, Anthropic spokesman Thariq Shihipar clarified that the policy is not linked to the release of Fable or Mythos. For those using Claude as consumer users, in practice, the operational point is restricted: the request for ID and selfie only triggers in the case of already flagged accounts, as an alternative to banning, and the data remains with a third-party provider whose deletion timelines have not been disclosed for now.