Tinder, Zoom, and DocuSign have entered strategic partnerships with World, a biometric identification project backed by Sam Altman, to verify users and combat digital fraud, according to a report by restofworld.org.
The companies will utilize World’s digital ID technology to distinguish humans from bots, specifically aiming to reduce the spread of deepf/akes, scams, and fraudulent activity.
World, formerly known as Worldcoin, is operated by Tools for Humanity, a startup co-founded by Altman. The system uses physical, spherical devices called 'Orbs' to scan users' irises and assign a 'proof of humanity.'
While the project is expanding its corporate footprint in the United States, it faces significant regulatory hurdles abroad. Several governments in Asia and Africa have halted operations due to privacy concerns, and parts of Europe have banned the technology entirely, ordering the deletion of collected data.
Regulatory pushback and privacy concerns
In Latin America, sign-ups for the service are currently paused as investigations proceed. The project's method of incentivizing registrations—offering roughly $50 in cryptocurrency for iris scans—has drawn intense scrutiny.
Surveillance whistleblower Edward Snowden has criticized the project, accusing the company of "cataloguing eyeballs," according to the restofworld.org report.
An investigation by MIT Technology Review in 2022 also highlighted unethical practices during onboarding in Africa and Asia. The report suggested the company gathered sensitive biometric data, including heartbeats and breathing patterns, without obtaining meaningful informed consent.
World claims to have verified more than 18 million people across 160 countries. To counter global backlash, the company has released studies claiming support for the technology in Portugal, Spain, and South Korea.
Despite the international friction, the company is expanding its U.S. presence. In April 2025, World established 7,000 Orbs across six American cities. The report notes that cryptocurrency regulations in the U.S. are generally less uniform than those in the European Union, providing a different regulatory landscape for the company's operations.
