Claude Sees Another Wave of Account Bans: Users in Hong Kong, China Hit Hard, Even 3-Year-Old Accounts Banned

Beating AI News Flash: Anthropic's Claude has recently seen another wave of complaints about mass account bans. According to the South China Morning Post, on October 1, multiple users in Hong Kong, China suddenly received ban notices. They had previously used Claude via virtual private networks, and some had been using it continuously for six months. A user on V2EX also claimed that an account they had used for 3 years was also deactivated.

One key focus of this round of bans is regional restrictions. Anthropic's official support list does not include mainland China, Hong Kong, or Macau. Some users received emails explicitly mentioning "violation of supported regions policy." Even if a virtual private network is used to switch the network exit to the United States or Singapore, that does not mean compliance with the rules. The company requires users to actually be located in supported regions.

However, some users have also complained about suspected mistaken bans. A paying user claiming to live in the United States posted on GitHub, saying the account was banned due to regional policy. After appealing, Anthropic instead refused to restore the account on the grounds of "violation of usage policy," without explaining the specific violation. The user also said the appeal channel had been closed, and contacting other support teams also did not lead to effective handling.

Anthropic has not yet disclosed the scale of the recent bans, nor has it confirmed a new round of concentrated cleanup. When the company updated its usage policy on October 8, it once again clarified the scope of application of regional restrictions.