Elizabeth Howcroft and Emma Pinedo
LONDON (Reuters) – Sam Altman’s Worldcoin has filed a lawsuit against Spain’s data protection regulator in response to a ban on operations in Spain, a Worldcoin spokesman said on Friday.
Worldcoin aims to create a global identity system and involves people scanning their irises in exchange for free cryptocurrency and a digital ID.
Spain’s data protection regulator, AEPD, said on Wednesday that it had advised Worldcoin to stop collecting personal information and using data already collected.
In response to the ban, Worldcoin said AEPD was “circumventing EU laws” and “spreading inaccurate and misleading claims about our technology.”
AEPD did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
In a statement on its website, Worldcoin said Tools for Humanity, the company behind the project, filed a lawsuit against the AEPD order.
The statement said AEPD bypassed “accepted EU processes and regulations” and “established procedures under the GDPR” (European Union General Data Protection Regulation), without disclosing details.
A Worldcoin spokesperson said that the claim is an application for a stay of the AEPD order and that it has been referred to the Administrative Chamber of the Spanish High Court.
The company also said it had suspended all of its “World ID verification services” in Spain, referring to registration sites where people can scan their eyeballs using Worldcoin’s “spherical” devices.
According to the Worldcoin website, more than 4 million people in 120 countries have signed up for iris scans using Worldcoin. However, the project has drawn criticism from privacy advocates from Argentina to Germany over the collection, storage and use of personal data.
On Wednesday, AEPD said its lawsuit against Worldcoin follows complaints about insufficient information, collection of data from minors or failure to revoke consent.