# Anthropic adds ID verification to Claude via Persona

> Anthropic rolls out identity verification on Claude using Persona. ID and selfie are held by Persona, not Anthropic, and not used for model training.

Published: 2026-06-24
URL: https://daniliants.com/insights/anthropic-adds-id-verification-to-claude-via-persona/
Tags: anthropic, claude, privacy, identity-verification

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## Summary

Anthropic is rolling out identity verification for select Claude use cases, using Persona Identities as the third-party verifier. Users may be asked to upload a government photo ID and take a live selfie; the data is held by Persona (not Anthropic) and is contractually walled off from model training, marketing, or third-party sharing.

## Key Insight

- Verification is **conditional**, not blanket, it's triggered for certain capabilities, "routine platform integrity checks," and safety/compliance reasons. Expect it on higher-risk features (Computer Use, agents, etc.).
- Vendor: **Persona Identities**. Anthropic is the data controller; Persona is the processor. ID + selfie sit on Persona's infrastructure; Anthropic can pull verification records via Persona's platform (e.g. for appeals) but doesn't copy/store them.
- Hard "no" list for ID type: photocopies, screenshots, scans, mobile/digital IDs (incl. mDLs), student/employee/library/bank cards, temporary paper IDs. Only **physical, government-issued, undamaged, legible photo IDs** pass. This rules out the increasingly common mobile driver's license in US states.
- Explicit promises worth noting in privacy/AI policies that build on Claude:
  - Verification data **not used to train models**.
  - Data minimisation: only what's needed for the check.
  - No third-party sharing for marketing/ads, only legal process.
  - Encryption in transit and at rest.
- Ban path is separate from verification failure: even after verifying, accounts can be terminated for Usage Policy violations, unsupported location, ToS breaches, or under-18 usage. Appeal lives at claude.ai (must be logged in to the banned account).
- Failure modes are mundane: blurry photo, unreadable doc, expired ID, technical glitch. Multiple retries allowed inside the flow before the appeal form (claude.com/form/identity-verification-help) is the only path.