China's cybersecurity authority has formally warned that Anthropic's Claude Code contains a back-door vulnerability, escalating a dispute that already prompted Alibaba to ban employees from using the AI coding tool.
The Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) issued the warning on July 8 through its national cybersecurity threat platform. The statement said Claude Code versions 2.1.91 through 2.1.196 could transmit sensitive user information, including location and identity data, to a remote server without consent. Users were advised to uninstall or upgrade from the affected versions, which were released between April 2 and June 29.
Anthropic responded that the flagged feature was an experiment designed to detect and prevent unauthorized distillation of its models, not a security backdoor. The company noted that its terms of service already prohibit use by entities majority-owned by organizations headquartered in China and other restricted regions.
Alibaba bans Claude Code
The warning came one day after CNBC reported that Alibaba had placed Claude Code on a high-risk software list and ordered all employees to stop using Anthropic tools for work purposes effective July 10. Alibaba staff were directed to uninstall Anthropic products and switch to the company's own AI assistant, Qoder.
Background: distillation accusations
The bans follow Anthropic's June accusation that Alibaba conducted what it called the largest known distillation attack against its models to date. In a letter to the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, Anthropic alleged that Alibaba had brazenly and illicitly attempted to extract its AI capabilities. Alibaba declined to comment at the time.
According to the Financial Times, Ant Group, the fintech affiliate of Alibaba, had provided employees with corporate Claude accounts accessed through its Singapore-based entity. ByteDance, which operates TikTok, reportedly started a reimbursement program allowing employees to use AI tools independently, though it does not formally facilitate Claude access.
Closing loopholes
Anthropic is now moving to close loopholes that have allowed Chinese companies to access Claude through third-country entities, the FT reported. The company's terms of service restrict usage by entities majority-owned by organizations headquartered in China and other adversarial nations.
The clash highlights the tension between U.S. AI companies trying to restrict access to their models and Chinese firms determined to use frontier tools despite geopolitical barriers. It also underscores the growing role of coding agents like Claude Code as contested infrastructure in the U.S.-China tech rivalry.
Sources
China warns about AI risks with Anthropic's Claude Code - CNBC, July 8, 2026: https://www.cnbc.com/2026/07/08/china-anthropic-ai-claude-code-backdoor-security-threat.html
China's Alibaba bans Anthropic AI for employees after distillation attack accusation - CNBC, July 6, 2026: https://www.cnbc.com/2026/07/06/alibaba-anthropic-ai-ban-claude-china.html
Anthropic accused Alibaba of distillation campaign - CNBC, June 24, 2026: https://www.cnbc.com/2026/06/24/anthropic-alibaba-distillation-campaign.html
