Thai regulators demand World remove iris scans of 1.2 million Users
Thai authorities have officially demanded that the World project, backed by Sam Altman, suspend its operations and delete all user identification data.
The World digital identification project, supported by Sam Altman, is halting work in Thailand after authorities accused it of violating rules governing the exchange of WLD tokens and the Personal Data Protection Act.
According to a statement issued Monday by the Ministry of Digital Economy and Society (MDES), Thailand’s National Economic and Social Development Council, the country’s strategic planning agency, has ordered World to delete iris scans belonging to 1.2 million local users.
Official Statement. Source: World Thailand, Cointelegraph
The order specifies that World’s iris-scanning process in exchange for the Worldcoin token violates Thailand’s Personal Data Protection Act, which regulates the collection, use, and disclosure of such sensitive information.
As Cointelegraph reports, the suspension comes several weeks after Thai authorities conducted a raid in October at one of World’s iris-scanning locations over allegations of potential violations of digital asset laws.
World seeks reinstatement
World Thailand denies the allegations but has suspended iris verification. In addition, World has removed Thailand from the list of countries where Orb scanning locations are available.
World Thailand emphasized that the suspension negatively affects millions of Thai users who rely on its digital identification technology to protect themselves from fraud, identity theft, and AI-driven scams.
“We remain committed to building a safer digital reality for Thais today and in the future, and continue to engage constructively with the relevant Thai authorities, including MDES and the PDPC [Personal Data Protection Committee], to move forward,” the company said.
Since its launch in July 2023—initially under the name Worldcoin, and later World—the project has faced numerous regulatory challenges worldwide.
In May, Indonesia’s Ministry of Digital Technology announced it was investigating local Worldcoin operators over suspected suspicious activity and registration violations.
Other countries, such as Germany, Kenya, and Brazil, have also raised concerns about potential risks to users’ biometric data, although the company continues to insist that user data is protected from leaks.
According to CoinMarketCap, the WLD token has dropped 32% over the past month and was trading at $0.63 at the time of writing.
As we wrote, Brazil cracks down on World Network over privacy violations and crypto payments
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