Sam Altman—Colombia's data protection authority ordered permanent, unappealable shutdown of Altman's World/Worldcoin iris-scanning operation
Colombia's Superintendencia de Industria y Comercio (SIC) confirmed on July 8, 2026 (Resolution 45710) the permanent and immediate closure of all data-processing operations by World Foundation and Tools for Humanity Corporation (the entities behind Sam Altman's World/Worldcoin iris-scanning project) in Colombia, with no further appeal available. The SIC found the companies violated Colombia's data protection law by collecting biometric iris data without valid free consent (conditioning it on cryptocurrency payments), failing to adequately disclose processing purposes, lacking compliant data-handling procedures, and mischaracterizing encrypted iris codes as 'anonymous' data. The ruling upheld and finalized sanctions first imposed in October 2025. This follows earlier bans/restrictions on the project in Brazil, Kenya, Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand, Spain, Portugal and Hong Kong.
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)
SIC Colombia confirmed final, permanent shutdown order against World Foundation and Tools for Humanity
Colombia's data protection regulator SIC published an official communique confirming its final decision (Resolution 45710 of June 18, 2026, announced July 8, 2026) ordering the immediate and permanent closure of World Foundation's and Tools for Humanity's sensitive-data processing operations in Colombia and mandatory deletion of all biometric data collected, with no further appeal available.