US Judge Temporarily Halts Trump's Move to Blacklist Anthropic

San Francisco (ANTARA) - A US federal judge on Thursday (26/3) temporarily blocked the Pentagon’s attempt to label artificial intelligence (AI) company Anthropic as a “supply chain risk”, issuing a temporary court order suspending the move. Judge Rita Lin of the US District Court for the Northern District of California stated that she was also blocking a directive from US President Donald Trump ordering all federal agencies to stop using Anthropic’s technology. Those measures suspend the government ban until the court rules on the merits of the case, but will not take effect for seven days to allow the government time to appeal. Earlier this month, Anthropic sued the Trump administration after the Pentagon designated the company as a “supply chain risk to national security” for refusing to provide unlimited government access to its AI models without assurances that they would not be used in autonomous weapons or mass surveillance. “Punishing Anthropic for disclosing its government contract position to the public is an illegal First Amendment retaliatory step that is often used,” Lin wrote in her decision. “There is no aspect of the applicable law that supports the Orwellian idea that an American company can be labelled a potential enemy and saboteur against the US for expressing disagreement with the government,” she added. Welcoming the judge’s decision, Anthropic stated that it “thanks the court for moving quickly, and is pleased that they agree Anthropic is likely to prevail in this matter.” “While this case was necessary to protect Anthropic, our customers, and our partners, our focus remains on working productively with the government to ensure all Americans benefit from safe and reliable AI,” a spokesperson said in a statement. Anthropic is also facing another lawsuit in Washington DC related to a separate supply chain risk designation by the Pentagon that could hinder the company from obtaining civil government contracts.