Sam Altman—Altman's World (Worldcoin) iris-scanning project banned or halted in Kenya, Brazil, Indonesia, Philippines, and Thailand
Sam Altman's personal project World (formerly Worldcoin), which scans irises in exchange for cryptocurrency tokens, has been banned or halted in multiple countries. Kenya's High Court ruled the project collected data 'without valid consent' and 'used inducements,' ordering data deletion. Brazil, Indonesia, Philippines, and Thailand also restricted operations. In April 2026, World pivoted to US partnerships with Tinder, Zoom, and DocuSign for identity verification.
Scoring Impact
| Topic | Direction | Relevance | Contribution |
|---|---|---|---|
| Consumer Protection | -against | secondary | -0.50 |
| User Privacy | -against | primary | -1.00 |
| Overall incident score = | -0.664 | ||
Score = avg(topic contributions) × significance (high ×1.5) × confidence (0.59)
Evidence (1 signal)
Kenya High Court ruled World collected biometric data without valid consent, ordered data deletion
Kenya's High Court ruled Sam Altman's World (Worldcoin) project collected iris data 'without valid consent' and 'used inducements' to sign up participants. Court ordered data deletion and halted biometrics collection.