Anthropic faces gray market token resellers in Beijing

Unauthorized resellers in Beijing’s Haidian District are openly selling access to Anthropic’s Claude models despite the company’s ban on Chinese services for national security reasons. A building occupant reported that six of thirty tenants in one office complex operate this gray market, indicating organized commercial distribution rather than isolated individual circumvention. Anthropic has previously accused Chinese AI laboratories of conducting an industrial-scale covert campaign to extract model capabilities using fake accounts and stolen identities. These resellers facilitate access to restricted U.S. AI technology through intermediary channels that bypass official export controls. The operation demonstrates significant demand for Western frontier models within China despite regulatory prohibitions. This underground ecosystem complicates U.S. efforts to maintain technological advantages through trade restrictions. Anthropic has not commented specifically on the Haidian operations but maintains its prohibition on Chinese service provision remains active due to security concerns.