Anthropic · Anthropic API Usage Policy · View original document ↗

Prohibition on Psychological Manipulation and Deceptive Content

High severity Unique · 0 of 343 platforms
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Recent governance activity Anthropic recorded 2 documented changes in the last 30 days.
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This analysis describes what Anthropic's agreement states, permits, or reserves. It does not constitute a legal determination about enforceability. Regulatory applicability and practical outcomes may vary by jurisdiction, enforcement context, and individual circumstances. Read our methodology

ConductAtlas Analysis

Why it matters (compliance & governance perspective)

This provision establishes a use restriction that defines prohibited application categories for API access. It operationalizes Anthropic's content policy by excluding applications designed around manipulative or emotionally harmful deception from authorized use cases.

Recent Activity

This document changed recently

High Feb 27, 2026

Defense contractors and federal agencies using Claude must find alternatives. Enterprise customers with defense-adjacent business face compliance risk.

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Clause Stability Stable

0
Changes
3
Months Monitored
Apr 3, 2026
First Seen
Apr 17, 2026
Last Seen
This clause type exists across 560 other provisions on other platforms.

Consumer impact (what this means for users)

Users of the Anthropic API are prohibited from building applications that incorporate deceptive techniques intended to cause emotional harm. Violation of this restriction constitutes a breach of the usage policy and may result in service termination.

How other platforms handle this

Stripe Medium

You must not, and must not allow others to: Create content, products, or services using any part of the End User Services

Midjourney Medium

Do not generate images for political campaigns or to try to influence the outcome of an election. Do not generate images to spread misinformation or disinformation.

Teachable Medium

You agree not to post, upload, publish, submit or transmit any content that: (i) infringes, misappropriates or violates a third party's patent, copyright, trademark, trade secret, moral rights or other intellectual property rights, or rights of publicity or privacy; (ii) violates, or encourages any ...

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▸ View Original Clause Language DOCUMENT RECORD
"
Develop a new product or service, or support an existing product or service that employs or facilitates deceptive techniques with the intent of causing emotional harm

— Excerpt from Anthropic's Anthropic API Usage Policy

Applicable regulations

CFAA
United States Federal
DMCA
United States Federal
DSA
European Union
Trump Executive Order on AI Policy Framework
US

Provision details

Document information
Document
Anthropic API Usage Policy
Entity
Anthropic
Document last updated
May 11, 2026
Tracking information
First tracked
March 6, 2026
Last verified
April 28, 2026
Record ID
CA-P-000118
Document ID
CA-D-00013
Evidence Provenance
Source URL
Wayback Machine
Content hash (SHA-256)
fe6f60bf15130bb0c59c7054ad8111501f08769394cd72b598d456d524e13f2e
Analysis generated
March 6, 2026 20:36 UTC
Methodology
Evidence
✓ Snapshot stored   ✓ Hash verified
Citation Record
Entity: Anthropic
Document: Anthropic API Usage Policy
Record ID: CA-P-000118
Captured: 2026-03-06 20:36:08 UTC
SHA-256: fe6f60bf15130bb0…
URL: https://conductatlas.com/platform/anthropic/anthropic-api-usage-policy/prohibition-on-psychological-manipulation-and-deceptive-content/
Accessed: July 4, 2026
Permanent archival reference. Stable identifier suitable for legal filings, compliance documentation, and research citation.
Classification
Severity
High
Categories

Other risks in this policy

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Built from archived source documents, structured governance mappings, and historical version tracking.

Frequently Asked Questions

What does Anthropic's Prohibition on Psychological Manipulation and Deceptive Content clause do?

This provision establishes a use restriction that defines prohibited application categories for API access. It operationalizes Anthropic's content policy by excluding applications designed around manipulative or emotionally harmful deception from authorized use cases.

How does this clause affect you?

Users of the Anthropic API are prohibited from building applications that incorporate deceptive techniques intended to cause emotional harm. Violation of this restriction constitutes a breach of the usage policy and may result in service termination.

Is ConductAtlas affiliated with Anthropic?

No. ConductAtlas is an independent monitoring service. We are not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Anthropic.