Sao Paolo Sues World and Amazon Over Alleged Biometric Data Exploitation

The Consumer Prosecutor's Office of Sao Paolo has filed a lawsuit against World and Amazon AWS for allegedly exploiting vulnerable populations to collect biometric data for crypto rewards. The office claims that World, which offers a digital identity service through its app called World ID, deliberately targeted people with socioeconomic vulnerability in Sao Paolo.

According to the lawsuit, World ignored an order from the National Data Protection Authority (ANPD) to suspend offering crypto rewards for biometric data in February 2025. The company continued to deliver these rewards using internal app transactions even after the order was issued, and did not inform consumers about the risks regarding the processing and storage of their data on AWS servers.

The lawsuit seeks to halt crypto payments and demands $47 million (240 million reais) in compensation for 400,000 affected consumers. It also petitions for the preservation of all data and metadata linked to the collection of biometric information. World has faced similar actions in Argentina, where it was hit with a $200K fine for violating consumer protection laws.

The Consumer Prosecutor's Office claims that World focused on attracting people in situations of economic vulnerability and maintained this practice even after being ordered to stop. The company also allegedly hid the risks associated with using AWS servers from users.