World ID relies on zero-knowledge proofs (ZKPs) that mathematically prevent anyone from linking a person’s World ID across apps.

Claim

Opposing arguments

South Korea’s Personal‑Information Protection Commission fined Worldcoin ₩1.1 billion (≈ US$0.8 m) for illegally collecting 30 000 irises and transferring the data overseas without consent.
Prominent technologists warn the Orb scheme could create a dystopian biometric registry
The Bavarian data-protection authority (BayLDA) ordered Worldcoin to delete millions of stored iris hashes for violating the EU’s GDPR, proving that the hashes remain personally identifiable data under European law despite World’s “anonymisation” claims

Quotes that support claims

To maintain anonymity in an online world, Worldcoin uses many privacy-preserving technologies including secure multiparty computation (SMPC) and zero-knowledge proofs (ZKPs).

Related projects

World

Related topics

Privacy

Sources

Private by Design

Supporting arguments

Core Orb firmware and biometric pipeline are open-source, allowing anyone to audit that no personal data is retained
AMPC’s MPC pipeline retains raw iris codes on-device, ensuring that biometric images never leave the Orb
An independent Trail of Bits audit found no path to extract personally-identifiable data from production Orbs

Tags

Orbs adequately protect user privacy