Anthropic, the company behind ChatGPT rival Claude, accidentally ordered the deletion of thousands of unrelated GitHub projects while trying to remove leaked source code from the internet.
The AI company sent takedown notices to GitHub claiming these projects contained their stolen code. But most of the deleted projects had nothing to do with Anthropic at all. GitHub automatically removed the projects based on these claims.
Oops, Wrong Button
It started when someone leaked Anthropic’s internal source code online. The company hired a service to find and remove copies of this leaked code across the internet. But something went very wrong with their automated system.
Instead of targeting just the leaked Anthropic code, their takedown requests swept up thousands of innocent projects. Developers woke up to find their personal projects, open source tools, and random coding experiments had vanished from GitHub.
Anthropic quickly realized their mistake when angry developers started complaining on social media. The company called it an accident and began retracting most of the takedown notices. They’re now working with GitHub to restore the wrongly deleted projects.
What Happens Next
Most of the accidentally deleted projects should be restored soon. But this incident highlights how easily automated copyright systems can go haywire, taking down legitimate work in the process. For developers, it’s a reminder that your code can disappear overnight based on a false claim – even from a company that didn’t mean to make one.