Portugal Orders Sam Altman-Backed Worldcoin to Halt Biometric Data Collection

Portugal’s data regulator banned the controversial iris-scanning technology for the Worldcoin cryptocurrency project yesterday. The ban is meant to last for 90 days.

The Worldcoin project aims to create a global digital ID system by encouraging people to have their irises scanned on its ‘Orb’ device in exchange for free cryptocurrency (Worldcoin’s own token, WLD).

The Comissão Nacional de Proteção de Dados (CNPD) cited a high risk to its citizens’ fundamental right to personal data protection, necessitating this urgent intervention “to prevent serious or irreparable damage.”

It raised concerns about “the impossibility of deleting data or revoking consent,’’ especially in the wake of over 300,000 Portuguese people sharing biometric data with Worldcoin. Moreover, the dozens of complaints regarding unauthorized data collection from minors and dissemination of insufficient information to data subjects pushed the regulator into implementing the ban.

Worldcoin has denied any wrongdoing. “The report from CNPD is the first time we are hearing from them regarding many of these matters, including reports of underage sign-ups in Portugal, for which we have zero tolerance for and are working to address in all instances, even if a matter of a few reports,’’ Jannick Preiwisch, data protection officer at the Worldcoin Foundation said in an email to Reuters.

However, CNPD said the temporary restriction would be in place until the regulator investigates the complaints and does additional due diligence into Worldcoin’s data collection and usage process.

Worldcoin’s mainstay is to create a “globally-inclusive identity and financial network,” which can be achieved by its global digital IDs, claims its whitepaper. Backed by Open AI’s Sam Altman, also the founder of Tools for Humanity, the company behind the project, Worldcoin has already had over 4.5 million people in 120 countries sign up for this initiative.

The order from CNPD comes just weeks after Spain’s data protection agency (AEPD) issued a similar ban of three months on Worldcoin’s biometric data collection of Spanish citizens. The AEPD said that in response to several complaints, it was forced to take this precautionary measure to safeguard and protect its citizens’ fundamental data privacy rights.

Kenya, one of the first countries in the world to see Worldcoin launch, cited similar security and privacy concerns to suspend the project’s activity in the country in August 2023.