Brazil has joined Spain and Germany, hindering the operation of Sam Altman’s controversial world project. The National Data Protection Agency (ANPD) has suspended services for world projects within the country. The weekend notice was sent to Altman’s technology company Human Tools (TFH) about the development. Brazil conducted a survey of Altman’s crypt in November 2024 to analyze how it handles iris scans of registered people.
The World Project, known as WorldCoin back in 2023, said it is launching a program called WorldCoin grants to provide recurring allowances to verified eligible world ID holders. To claim these rewards, users must download the World App.
Brazilian authorities and the project’s biometric verification process have noticed these financial products to initiate an investigation into its operations.
Explaining its decision to suspend the project, ANPD said: “In preventive analysis, general inspection coordination knows that by providing cryptocurrency, the monetary compensation granted to the company by the company may damage the obtaining of consent from the holder’s personal data.”
It is supposedly a way for the World Project to eliminate the way individuals share personal details with web protocols to interact online by providing the World ID. The project claims that these “world IDs” are personality proofs that distinguish real humans from cyber robots.
During the investigation, Brazil’s general inspection coordination observed that the monetary benefit of signing up for the project could be an important role in enabling people to scan their eyes as a biometric requirement for the project. In addition, it found that such biometric data collected by the World Project may not be possible to delete, and that registered people may not necessarily have the option to revoke their consent. These factors also exacerbate Brazil’s decision to suspend its services in the country.
“The monetary considerations provided by companies may interfere with the free expression of individuals’ will by influencing the decision to provide their biometric data, especially in cases where potential vulnerability and inadequacy make payments more weighted,” ANPD explained.
Altman and TFH have not responded to this development.
In December, regulators in Spain and Germany directed the project to remove users collected by iris scans from both countries. Whether Altman’s company is sticking to its direction is unclear. Before this, Hong Kong also blocked the project by privacy issues.
Originally called WorldCoin, the project was renamed World in October 2024.
