Anthropic tightens Claude usage restrictions: companies controlled by mainland China and Hong Kong cannot use it even overseas

Anthropic will tighten its supported-regions policy effective November 12, barring entities incorporated or headquartered in unsupported regions—and those majority-owned or controlled by such entities—from using Claude.ai, Claude Code, Cowork, the API, and Claude models delivered via cloud platforms and authorized resellers, even when their personnel are located in supported countries. Mainland China and Hong Kong are not on the supported list, and individuals in unsupported regions are also excluded. Anthropic said the update mainly clarifies how existing geographic restrictions apply. The change matters because Chinese and Hong Kong-controlled firms with overseas staff can no longer access Claude through any channel, pushing them toward alternatives or compliance restructuring. What to watch next is whether Anthropic adds regions to the list and how affected enterprises reroute workloads across model providers.