World, the identity project formerly known as Worldcoin, has launched iris scanning enrollment in Italy, deploying its Orb devices in Rome to register users for a “proof of human” credential. At the same time, Kenya’s Office of the Data Protection Commissioner said Tools for Humanity, the company behind World, has complied with orders issued in 2025 under the country’s Data Protection Act.
Kenyan regulators previously found that Tools for Humanity had failed to conduct a required Data Protection Impact Assessment before collecting iris biometrics in the country. The regulator’s confirmation of compliance indicates the company has addressed the violations cited last year, though it remains unclear whether enrollment operations will resume in Kenya.
World’s system uses custom Orb devices to capture iris biometrics and generate a cryptographic proof intended to verify that a user is a unique human. The company says the approach is designed to help platforms distinguish people from automated accounts, with potential use cases in identity verification, age checks, and protection against duplicate or synthetic accounts.
The company has highlighted iris biometrics for their accuracy, citing false match rates beyond 2.5e-14, or about one in 40 trillion. World argues that the uniqueness of iris patterns enables global-scale identity verification, which is central to its goal of issuing a universal proof-of-human credential.
Regulatory outcomes for the project vary sharply by jurisdiction. In Thailand, regulators ordered the company to stop iris-based enrollment and delete biometric records collected from more than one million people under the country’s Personal Data Protection Act. In Germany, Bavaria’s data protection authority ordered World to delete stored iris data and raised questions about GDPR compliance, prompting a pause for “station upgrades and regulatory review.” China has warned against the collection of citizens’ biometric data and has not permitted the project to operate there.
The mixed regulatory landscape underscores the sensitivity of large-scale biometric programs and the importance of jurisdiction-specific compliance work such as impact assessments, consent practices, and data retention controls. World’s Italy launch demonstrates continued expansion in Europe even as other markets impose restrictions or deletion orders.
Sources: Il Sole 24 Ore, Business Daily
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By the ID Tech Editorial Team
