Who decides who gets to use a piece of software?

The US Commerce Department sent Anthropic a directive that forced the company to shut down two of its most powerful AI models globally — affecting users, researchers, and even Anthropic's own foreign-national employees. The move marks the first time export controls have been applied to a live commercial AI service, effectively functioning as a global kill switch. The precedent raises serious questions about sovereignty, dependency, and who actually controls the infrastructure the world now runs on.