Anthropic bans sustained cruelty toward Claude

Anthropic has updated its usage policy to prohibit sustained, needless abusive or cruel behavior toward its Claude AI models, while also revising rules on election interference, deceptive influence campaigns, weapons-related activity and surveillance. The policy takes effect November 12, 2026, the company said. Anthropic described the new abuse rule as limited to extreme cases in which users repeatedly act cruelly toward Claude without a discernible purpose. It does not cover ordinary frustration, critical feedback, dark creative work, or testing and research, according to the company. The primary enforcement measure will remain Claude ending an abusive conversation, Anthropic said. The company did not disclose account-level penalties specifically for violating the new cruelty provision. Although the general policy allows measures such as restricting or suspending access, those consequences have not been identified as specific penalties under this rule. The update also reorganizes and clarifies restrictions on election-related misuse.