MADRID (Reuters) – Worldcoin, a company co-founded by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, must delete all iris scanning data collected since the start of the project that has sparked privacy concerns in several countries, the Spanish data protection watchdog AEPD announced on Thursday.
The decision is based on a ruling earlier on Thursday by the Bavarian data protection agency BayLDA, with which the AEPD has cooperated on the case, finding the venture in breach of the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation.
Worldcoin, which has its European headquarters in the German city of Erlangen in Bavaria, aimed to create a global identity system by getting people to have their irises scanned in exchange for free cryptocurrency and a digital ID.
In March, Spain’s High Court upheld a temporary ban on the iris-scanning venture, dismissing an appeal by Worldcoin’s owners. The project has faced resistance in multiple countries due to concerns over privacy and data protection. As a result, Worldcoin must now delete all the data it has collected since the project’s inception in 2019.