Anthropic's Supported Regions Policy for Claude took effect on Thursday, Nov. 12, 2026, formally barring Claude use by people located in unsupported regions and by companies headquartered in, or controlled from, those regions. Mainland China, Hong Kong and Russia are not on the company's list of supported countries and regions.
The policy applies across Anthropic's product line: Claude.ai, Claude Code, Cowork, the Claude API and developer platform, and Claude models offered through cloud platforms and authorized resellers. Anthropic's policy page states that any country or region not listed is unsupported.
Anthropic defines prohibited use in three ways. The first is use by anyone physically located in an unsupported region, including employees of otherwise supported companies who are traveling there. The second is use by entities incorporated or headquartered in an unsupported region, along with their users and personnel, regardless of whether those individuals are physically located in a supported region.
Key facts
- 01Anthropic's Supported Regions Policy for Claude took effect on Nov. 12, 2026.
- 02The rules cover Claude.ai, Claude Code, Cowork, the API, and Claude models sold through cloud platforms and authorized resellers.
- 03Entities incorporated, headquartered, or majority-owned or controlled in unsupported regions are barred, wherever their staff sit.
- 04Mainland China, Hong Kong and Russia are not on Anthropic's supported list; Taiwan is.
- 05Anthropic first restricted sales to companies more than 50% owned from regions like China on Sept. 4, 2025.
The third category is the one with the widest reach. Entities that are majority-owned or controlled, directly or indirectly, by people or companies in unsupported regions are also barred, and so are their users and personnel, regardless of where they work. When Anthropic first introduced the ownership test, it said the rule applies to such companies regardless of where they operate.
Anthropic announced the change on Oct. 8 as part of a broader 2026 Usage Policy update. In that post the company said it had updated its Supported Regions page to clarify how it enforces the policy, and described most of the update's changes as clarifications of existing rules rather than new restrictions.
The ownership rule itself dates to Sept. 4, 2025, when Anthropic said it would stop selling to companies more than 50% owned, directly or indirectly, by firms headquartered in jurisdictions where its products are not permitted, naming China. At the time Anthropic cited legal requirements in those jurisdictions that can compel data sharing or cooperation with intelligence services, along with the risk of Claude being used for adversarial military and intelligence purposes, for model distillation, or to compete with US and allied technology companies.
Reports that the rules were brand new circulated widely on Russian Telegram channels on Nov. 11, warning that employees of Russian companies would lose access even while working abroad. The Russian-language outlet Meduza pointed out that the restriction has been in place since last year, and that Anthropic's Supported Regions page lists a previous version dated May 12, 2026, with the same country list.
Enforcement is where users are most likely to notice the change. According to TokenPost, Anthropic began rolling out identity checks in April that can require a government ID and a selfie submitted through Persona, treats unauthorized resale of Claude access and use from restricted regions as risk signals that can trigger verification, and may close accounts that fail those checks.
The same Oct. 8 update also added a section banning deceptive campaigns and artificial activity, revised rules on elections, weapons guidance and control software, surveillance and high-risk uses in health, finance and law, and added a ban on sustained abusive behavior toward AI models.
OpenAI is tightening access on a similar timeline. TokenPost reported that OpenAI announced on Oct. 21 that third-party platforms offering direct access to GPT models must get approval in advance, a requirement that starts Nov. 20.
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