Worldcoin Must Delete Iris Scanning Data

MADRID (Reuters) – Sam Altman's company Worldcoin must delete all iris scanning data collected since the project's inception, due to privacy concerns, as mandated by Spain's data protection watchdog, AEPD.

AEPD's decision follows a ruling from its Bavarian counterpart, BayLDA, which found the venture in violation of the European Union's General Data Protection Regulation.

Worldcoin, recently rebranded to World, has its European headquarters in Erlangen, Bavaria.

In March, Spain's High Court upheld a temporary ban on the iris-scanning initiative, rejecting an appeal from Worldcoin's owners.

Co-founded by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman in 2019, Worldcoin's goal is to establish a global identity system by requiring participants to have their irises scanned in exchange for free cryptocurrency and a digital ID.

(This story has been corrected to clarify that the AEPD was citing a decision made by its German counterpart, not its own, and to specify that Worldcoin’s European headquarters is in Bavaria.)