When Platforms Change the Rules: Slack’s Price Shock and Claude’s User Ban

Two stories lit up the tech world this week: Slack’s surprise billing hike and Anthropic’s sudden decision to block certain users from Claude, its AI assistant.

Different industries, different platforms — but the same uncomfortable truth: if you build your life or business on someone else’s platform, you’re also playing by their rules, even when those rules change overnight.

Slack’s Price Shock

On Reddit and Hacker News, a youth coding community revealed that their Slack bill had jumped by nearly $200,000 a year. This wasn’t some massive enterprise with deep pockets — it was a grassroots group that had been running on special terms, suddenly told the deal was off.

Slack, now under Salesforce, has been reshaping its product tiers. Features are being re-bundled, AI capabilities dangled as premium perks, and customers pushed toward higher-priced plans. For non-profits and volunteer-driven groups, those shifts aren’t just an annoyance — they can be existential.

Claude’s Access Ban

Meanwhile, Anthropic announced that organisations majority-owned by Chinese entities would no longer be able to use Claude. The company cited regulatory and security concerns.

For affected businesses, the disruption is immediate. Yesterday you had a functioning AI pipeline; today, the provider has shut the door. Chinese competitors rushed in with migration offers, but that doesn’t erase the message: access is conditional, and it can vanish for reasons entirely outside your control.

The Bigger Lesson

Both stories drive home a single point: dependency comes at a cost.

Prices can change. A discount or special deal isn’t forever, and seat-counting rules can be rewritten.
Access can disappear. Vendors answer not just to customers, but to regulators, governments, and shareholders.
Alternatives are real but costly. Switching platforms is possible, but data migration, integrations, and user retraining all carry a heavy price tag.

A Reflection

It’s tempting to get angry at Slack for its billing tactics or at Anthropic for its restrictions. But the real takeaway is more sobering: platforms will always act in their own interest first.

That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t use them — Slack is still a great tool for teams, and Claude remains one of the most capable AI assistants available. But it does mean we need to approach them with clear eyes. They’re not permanent homes; they’re rented spaces.

And as with any rental, the landlord can raise the rent or change the rules. The question isn’t whether that will happen, but when — and whether we’re prepared when it does.

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