Claude instantly bans Chinese passports, OpenAI restricts multiple accounts per card: Two AI giants tighten risk controls in succession.

Beating AI News Flash: Recently, many Claude and ChatGPT users have reported sudden account bans. Claude users frequently encounter identity verification, with some being banned immediately after submitting a Chinese passport. ChatGPT has seen concentrated ban complaints around November 7, affecting free users, Plus subscribers, $200-per-month Pro users, and even enterprise accounts.

Claude's identity verification has been in place since April this year. Users may be asked to upload passports and other documents through third-party platform Persona, then take a selfie for identity verification. Since late October, many long-time users have suddenly encountered verification requirements. Some were banned immediately after verifying with a Chinese passport, while others passed smoothly. One user was banned instantly after submitting their passport, but had their account restored the next day after appealing.

Anthropic officially prohibits using Claude from mainland China and other unsupported regions. In its September security report, the company explicitly stated that the system identifies risk signals such as unauthorized resale of Claude and accounts originating from China and other restricted regions, and requires relevant users to verify their identity, with account bans upon verification failure.

OpenAI has also begun strictly restricting multi-account usage. According to the latest official documents, too many subscriptions linked to the same bank card will prevent new accounts from purchasing memberships; logging into too many paid accounts on the same device will also trigger restrictions, and there have even been cases where payment succeeded but the service could not be used. The restrictions cover Go, Plus, and all Pro membership tiers.

OpenAI recently also gifted eligible Pro users API credits equal to their membership price, up to $500 per month. Such credits have also become targets for resale by third-party relay platforms for other users to use. OpenAI explicitly prohibits reselling API credits or sharing accounts, and violations can result in account bans.

Both companies have also recently updated their usage policies in succession. Anthropic announced new rules on October 8, further clarifying access restrictions for mainland China and other unsupported regions, effective November 12. OpenAI announced new rules on October 21, requiring relay platforms that directly provide access to GPT models to obtain official approval in advance, effective November 20.