Author: New Zhiyuan
Anthropic is in the headlines again!
In recent days, many Claude users opened their email to find a message from Anthropic. The title seemed innocuous - "Privacy Policy Update Notification". But the content left them stunned:
"We may ask you to verify your age or identity."
Someone shared a screenshot of the email on X, and the comments exploded. According to the email content, starting July 8th, Claude will likely start asking for your ID. Has Anthropic's real-name verification finally arrived?
Anthropic Suddenly Announces, Is Real-Name Verification Really Coming?
On June 10th, many Claude users' inboxes received an email from Anthropic.
The email mentions that starting July 8th, Anthropic may ask users to verify their age or identity, citing the reason as "enhancing security." More interestingly, some found they just received this email today, while their other accounts hadn't received it at all before, suggesting it might be a batch rollout or an A/B test.
According to the officially updated privacy policy in the email, there are three core changes:
1. Data Flow for Multi-Step Tasks and Third-Party Apps
As Claude's capabilities improve, it can perform multi-step tasks on behalf of users (like helping you plan a full trip: checking flights, booking hotels, arranging itineraries), and can also connect to third-party apps (like Google Drive, Slack, Notion, etc.).
Moreover, your data no longer stays solely on Anthropic's servers. Anthropic explicitly states in the updated privacy policy: When you connect a service or have Claude perform tasks for you, data can flow between you and third parties.
This means your conversation content, uploaded files, and even your commands may leave Anthropic's servers and enter third-party app processing pipelines. For ordinary users, the more powerful the AI's "agentic capabilities," the broader your data footprint becomes.
2. Verification Data (Core Change)
This is the most impactful part of this update. The policy text reads:
As part of our efforts to maintain the security and reliability of our services, we may ask you to verify your age or identity. We are explaining here what information we collect and how.
How will verification be done?
According to Anthropic's official support page, verification will be conducted through the third-party service Persona. The specific process includes:
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Uploading a government-issued, photo ID document (passport, driver's license, ID card, etc.)
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Taking a real-time selfie (for comparison with the ID photo)
Anthropic attempts to reassure users, emphasizing that this data is only used to confirm identity, and will not be used for model training; data will not be stored on Anthropic's own servers (handled by Persona); and the entire process is only for specific security and compliance scenarios.
Nevertheless, this notification still shocked the user base. On platform X, one user shared an email screenshot with the caption: "Received on June 10th, thought it was just a regular update at the time... looking back now, terrifying to contemplate." Another user joked: They said they need to verify identity, so is Fable 5 coming back?
3. Research Participation Information
If you participate in Anthropic's research surveys or interviews, they will collect more information.
⚠️ Important Note:
The above three changes apply only to consumer accounts (Free, Pro, Max). Business customers (Team, Enterprise) are not affected. This means ordinary individual users will be the first batch to undergo "verification."
Anthropic explains on its official support page: Identity verification was previously only used in specific scenarios targeting minors, violators, or accounts in unsupported regions. In the future, as agent tasks become more complex, the scope of verification will gradually expand.
Identity verification is not something Anthropic is doing for the first time. Previously, when dealing with minor protection, violators, and accounts in some unsupported regions, similar verification methods have been used. The difference is that this time, the wording and scope are more explicit, and they specifically highlighted one sentence—in the future, as Agent tasks become increasingly complex, verification scenarios may continue to expand.
Many heavy Agent users worry: in the future, when using Claude to run automated tasks, will there be constant pop-ups asking for face scans? Currently, the official has not provided more detailed trigger conditions; after July 8th, there will likely be more specific explanations.
AI's "Wild West Era" Is Coming to an End
Thinking back to the recent uproar over the "Fable 5 Ban" incident, everything seems to have been foreshadowed.
When the Fable 5 account was banned by the authorities for crossing safety red lines, it shocked everyone. Many thought it might be a one-off disciplinary action for an extreme case, but now it appears that Fable 5's downfall is not an isolated incident, but rather a prelude to a comprehensive tightening by Anthropic and even the entire AI industry.
As AI's capabilities evolve from a "chat companion tool" to an "all-powerful agent" capable of operating third-party applications and executing complex tasks, the authorities will never allow another Fable 5 to run wild beyond legal boundaries.
The so-called "real-name system" and "face-scan verification" mark that on the eve of the full-scale explosion of AI Agents, major players must establish an unbreakable accountability tracing mechanism in advance. Once AI causes trouble while booking tickets, editing files, or even executing more complex business commands on your behalf, the platform must know exactly which real-life "person" is giving the orders behind the screen.
From July 8th onward, every time you attempt to have Claude help you complete multi-step complex tasks, it might be accompanied by a pop-up: Please upload your ID document.
Anthropic's message reveals—winter is coming. From now on, face-scan verification and account purging will likely become the norm for the AI industry in 2026.
In another month, when using Claude, one must be prepared to hold up their ID at any moment.
References:
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https://x.com/ryanmcadams/status/2066201356034011370?s=20
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https://privacy.claude.com/en/articles/10301952-updates-to-our-privacy-polic
