Tech Companies Rally Against Trump Administration Following Anthropic's Blacklisting
The US AI tool supplier to the military, Anthropic, continues to draw scrutiny. During the conflict with Iran, the US reportedly continued to use Anthropic’s AI tools for intelligence research, target identification, and warfare simulations.
However, just hours before the US-Israel attack on Iran on 28 February 2026, President Donald Trump announced a ban on the use of Anthropic’s AI tools in federal agencies.
Trump’s anger stemmed from Anthropic’s firm stance that it would not allow its AI tools to be used for creating autonomous weapons or surveilling US citizens. Anthropic stated it wished to assist the US military solely in defence matters.
Meanwhile, the Department of War (DoW) wanted no restrictions on the use of Anthropic’s AI tools for anything that was “legally permissible”. Trump even accused Anthropic of being a left-wing “woke” company that endangered national security.
The Trump administration went further, adding Anthropic to a supply chain risk blacklist. Notably, that list had previously only included foreign companies.
Anthropic did not remain silent and contested the decision. Anthropic also received backing from Microsoft, according to Reuters reports.
Microsoft filed a supporting brief on Tuesday 10 March local time to back Anthropic’s lawsuit. Microsoft requested the court to temporarily block the DoW’s decision to designate Anthropic as a supply chain risk.
In filings at the federal court in San Francisco, Microsoft supported Anthropic’s request, arguing that the decision should be suspended while the court considered the case.
Microsoft, which integrates its AI laboratory products and services into technology supplied to the US military, stated that it was directly affected by the DoW’s designation of Anthropic, according to Reuters on Wednesday 11 March 2026.
Microsoft’s filing argued that a Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) was necessary to prevent significant disruption to suppliers. Otherwise, they would need to rapidly rebuild offerings that depended on Anthropic’s products.
The judge overseeing the case must approve Microsoft’s request to file the brief before it is officially submitted, though courts frequently allow outside parties to submit opinions in important cases.
The Pentagon did provide Anthropic with a transition period before being fully excluded from the US military and federal agencies. However, Microsoft argues that the same transition period was not granted to contractors using Anthropic’s products or services to operate programmes with the DoW.
“If this action proceeds without a temporary restraining order, Microsoft and other government contractors with expertise in developing solutions to support US government missions will be forced to account for new risks in their business planning,” the company stated.
Microsoft added that a temporary restraining order would provide time to negotiate solutions whilst protecting military access to advanced technology and ensuring AI is not used for mass domestic surveillance or to initiate uncontrolled warfare without human control.
Previously, on Monday 9 March, a group of 37 researchers and engineers from OpenAI and Google also filed an amicus brief in support of Anthropic.