Brazil Suspends Sam Altman’s Iris 4sh5h Scanning World Project, ANPD Issues Notice to Parent Firm

The project, initially named Worldcoin, was rebranded to World in October 2024. 2k5l48

Written by Manas Mitul | Updated: 27 January 2025 19:24 IST

Brazil Suspends Sam Altman’s Iris-Scanning World Project, ANPD Issues Notice to Parent Firm

Photo Credit: Reuters 3v6d2p

The World project offers a proof-of-personhood to people g up

Highlights

Tools for Humanity is the parent firm of the World project
The World project has faced legal challenges in Hong Kong
Sam Altman has not reacted to Brazil’s decision yet

ment

Brazil has ed Spain and in obstructing the operations of Sam Altman's controversial World project. The National Data Protection Authority (ANPD) has suspended the services of the World project within the country. A notice about the development was issued over the weekend to Altman's tech firm Tools for Humanity (TFH), that parents World. Brazil had initiated a probe on Altman's crypt company in November 2024 to analyse how it processed iris-scans of people g up.

The World project, back in 2023, when it was called Worldcoin, had said it was initiating a programme called Worldcoin Grants to give recurring stipends available to verified World ID holders in eligible countries. To claim these rewards, s would have to the World app.

Brazilian authorities took notice of these financial offerings along with the project's iris-scanning process for biometric verification to launch an investigation into its operations.

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Explaining its decision to suspend the project, the ANPD said, “In a preventive analysis, the General Coordination of Inspection understood that the granting of monetary compensation by the company, through the offering of cryptocurrencies, may harm the obtaining of consent from the holder of personal data.”

The World project was supposedly founded to serve as a way to eliminate the need for individuals to share personal details with Web protocols to interact online by offering World IDs. The project claims that these ‘World IDs' are a proof of personhood that distinguishes genuine human beings from bots on the Web.

During its investigation, Brazil's General Coordination of Inspection observed that monetary benefits of g up for the project could be playing an influential role for getting people to get their eyes scanned as a biometric requirement for the project. In addition, it also found that this biometric data collected by the World project is potentially impossible to be erased and that people who sign up do not necessarily have the option to revoke their consent. These factors also added to Brazil's decision to suspend the project's services in the country.

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“Monetary consideration offered by the company may interfere with the free expression of will of individual, by influencing the decision regarding the provision of their biometric data, especially in cases where potential vulnerability and insufficiency make the weight of the payment offered even greater,” the ANPD explained.

Neither Altman nor TFH have responded to the development yet.

In December, regulators in Spain and blocked the project in May, citing privacy concerns.

The project, initially named Worldcoin, was rebranded to World in October 2024.

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Further reading: World Project

Radhika Parashar

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Radhika Parashar is a senior correspondent for Gadgets 360. She has been reporting on tech and telecom for the last three years now and will be focussing on writing about all things crypto. Besides this, she is a major sitcom nerd and often replies in Chandler Bing and Michael Scott references. For tips or queries you could reach out to her at [email protected]. More