Brazil regulator bans World Network from collecting citizens’ personal data

Bavaria’s regulator had previously ordered the project to develop a data deletion protocol by the end of January

27.01.2025 - 10:35

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2 min

What’s new? Brazil’s National Data Protection Authority (ANPD) on January 25 ordered Tools for Humanity (TFH), the company managing the World Network (formerly Worldcoin) project, to cease operations in the country. The decision was the result of an investigation launched last November following the project’s launch in Brazil.

Press release

What else is known? The ANPD believes that providing cryptocurrency as compensation calls into question the validity of users’ consent to the collection of sensitive biometric data.

According to Brazilian law, consent to process sensitive personal data must be free, informed, unambiguous, and provided specifically for certain purposes.

The ANPD is concerned about financial incentives that could affect the decision-making of people, especially those in vulnerable situations. Officials also expressed concern about the irreversible nature of data collection and the inability to delete data once it has been provided.

German regulator takes tough action against Worldcoin over biometric data

The Bavarian data regulator has ordered Worldcoin to develop a GDPR-compliant data deletion protocol by the end of January

World Network, founded by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and TFH, is a financial network that users can join after having their iris scanned at physical company offices using an Orb device to screen out bots.

For passing the identification procedure, users are given WLD native tokens. The asset occupies 72nd place in the overall ranking of cryptocurrencies by market capitalization with a figure of more than $1,77 billion and is trading at $1,85, a day lost 11,4%, and a month — 15,4%.

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