Alibaba Stops Use of Claude Over Chinese User ID Code
Is Anthropic protecting AI innovation from theft or secretly surveilling Chinese users through a hidden backdoor in Claude?
Above: An office building at Alibaba Center Shenzhen in China on June 27. Image credit: Cheng Xin/Getty Images
The Spin
Pro-China narrative
Anthropic accused Chinese AI firms of distillation, a lawful and normal practice, then embedded covert surveillance code in a developer tool with full filesystem access — disclosed to nobody, and removed only when exposed. This corporate malpractice smear against Chinese firms is laughable now that Anthropic has been proven guilty of what they accuse others of.
Anti-China narrative
Anthropic's detection code existed because Chinese operators were systematically looting its models through stolen credentials and proxy networks — an industrial-scale IP extraction campaign that predated the tracking code by months. The surveillance was a necessary response to secure their product.