Anthropic is stepping up efforts to prevent companies in China from accessing its AI models through indirect channels, following reports that several major Chinese firms have been using overseas entities and cloud infrastructure to bypass the company’s restrictions. According to a report by the Financial Times, Chinese technology groups, including Ant Financial, have continued using Anthropic’s AI services despite the company’s policy prohibiting access by Chinese organisations and entities under their control. The reported workarounds rely on overseas subsidiaries, corporate networks and cloud platforms rather than direct access from mainland China. The Financial Times reported that Ant Financial enabled employees to use Claude through corporate accounts connected to its Singapore-based entity. The report also said ByteDance reportedly introduced a reimbursement programme allowing engineers to expense personal Claude subscriptions, with users relying on virtual private networks (VPNs) to connect to the service. Anthropic confirmed it is continuously updating its detection systems to identify attempts to evade its geographical restrictions, stating it “explicitly prohibit[s] accessing or facilitating access to Claude in unsupported regions, including China.” People familiar with the matter told the Financial Times that Anthropic has also targeted so-called “transfer station” services.