Social media platform Reddit is reportedly considering using the iris-scanning orbs developed by World — a project by Tools for Humanity, co-founded by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman — for its user verification system.
According to a Friday Semafor report citing two people familiar with the matter, the platform is weighing the World ID system as a way for Redditors to verify that they are unique individuals. The report suggested that the verification system could still allow users to remain anonymous if they chose to do so.
In response to the report, many users said they would delete their accounts or consider moving to another platform if Reddit were to adopt the verification system, citing concerns with privacy and anonymity.
“Tell me – should I be happy that Reddit may enter the crypto space or sad that they want to verify us users by a method we already declined when [World] was launched?” said Reddit user Savi321. “Odd world out there.”
World’s biometric data collection through its “orbs” has faced pushback from many industry advocates and policymakers, some of whom have directed efforts to ban the project from collecting data from residents. As of May, the project reported that more than 12 million people scanned their irises using the orbs.
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World announced in April plans to debut in six US cities: Atlanta, Austin, Los Angeles, Miami, Nashville and San Francisco.
The Match Group, the dating giant behind Tinder and Hinge, has also said it will launch a pilot program using World ID for its apps. Visa announced in April that it would launch a credit card for World users who had completed iris scans.
Is Reddit a bastion of user anonymity and privacy?
In a May 5 Reddit post, CEO Steve Huffman said the platform was going to need “a little more information” about users in response to regulatory requirements regarding users’ age and addressing artificial intelligence, i.e., “to keep Reddit human.” The post did not suggest any involvement in World’s orbs at the time.
“Specifically, we will need to know whether you are a human, and in some locations, if you are an adult,” said Huffman. ”But we never want to know your name or who you are. The way we will do this is by working with various third-party services that can provide us with the essential information and nothing else.”
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