World launches World Chat mini app to connect with World App, World ID

Any mega-platform worth its salt has a chat feature, and now the World Network does, too. Last week the company introduced World Chat, which an announcement frames as “a new way to connect, chat and send money to humans on World Network.”

Like WhatsApp, which Meta owns, the World Chat mini-app’s chats are end-to-end encrypted. In keeping with its proof of personhood (PoP) mission, World also touts how the app can be connected to World ID, so it “allows you to know when you’re chatting with a verified human.” Verified users get a blue bubble instead of a drab grey one, and an extra special “World ID gem in the upper right corner.”

As to the financial use case, “because World Chat is integrated seamlessly with the World App wallet, it means you can send and receive crypto to and from anyone in the world as easily as sending a picture.”

There are now more than 100 of World’s mini apps available, and developers can now incorporate World Chat into their new creations. World Chat is currently available in Beta.

Worldcoin rolls the regulatory dice in Bangkok

World has recently been rapidly expanding operations in Southeast Asia, with its latest stop landing it in Thailand. Bangkok is now home to three “World Spaces” where interested parties can scan their irises and attain a World ID to become “verified humans” on the World Network (and choose to receive an allotment of WLD cryptocurrency).

A post from the firm says its network will help curb the “surge of bot-driven fraud and misinformation” flooding Thailand’s digital spaces. “Moreover, World’s Deep Face technology can protect Thais against the deepfakes that are proliferating on the social media platforms they rely on.”

Wai Man Raymond Chu is executive director of the Thailand International Digital Business and Finance Centre, which has partnered with World on the deployment. He calls it “a privacy-first solution that allows individuals to navigate the digital world with confidence while ensuring the country remains at the forefront of secure digital innovation.”

A section of the post headed “What Thais can expect from World” explains how “World Network aligns with the Thai concept of namjai, or generosity, by allowing people to collectively create online communities rooted in trust and authenticity.”

“To participate in World Network, Thais only need to download World App and verify they are human via the Orb, World’s state-of-the-art camera,” the company says. “World’s Personal Custody principle means that any data used to verify a World ID stays on the individual’s smartphone; neither World nor any third parties have access to it. Other advanced privacy features, including Anonymized Multi-Party Computation and zero-knowledge proofs, keep Thais’ actions and information secure and anonymous.”

World’s regulatory woes circle back to Kenya with High Court case

With all of that said, another thing Thais can reasonably expect for World is pointed questions from concerned privacy regulators. The company’s modus operandi is now clear: launch in as many places as possible, scale quickly to register as many users as possible, and brace for potential investigations around its measures for informed consent.

Thailand is a ripe market for World’s fraud prevention capabilities: Bloomberg Insurance Journal says that in 2024 alone, Thailand recorded over 168 million scam attempts – more than double the previous year – driven by generative AI and  fraudulent identities.

But it is hard to see World establishing a foothold in Thailand without causing a fuss among data privacy regulators, which have hounded the firm with suspensions, fines and allegations in nations as far and wide as Brazil, Portugal, Germany, Hong Kong, Spain, South Korea, the Dominican Republic, France, Colombia, India, Argentina and Chile.

And, Kenya, one of the first countries in which World launched its iris scanning operations. What was then Worldcoin earned a ban from regulators and accusations from lawmakers that it posed a threat to Kenya’s statehood. While authorities have dropped their investigation into World and the company is presently free to operate there, a court decision set for May could change that.

A blog from the International Commission of Jurists says the High Court of Kenya has heard submissions from ICJ Kenya, the Katiba Institute and the Office of the Data Protection Commissioner (ODPC) in the ongoing case against Worldcoin and its affiliated company, Tools for Humanity.

Petitioners are requesting an “immediate prohibition on World and its associates from collecting, processing, or using biometric data in Kenya unless a proper DPIA is conducted in accordance with legal requirements.”

Per the blog, the Kenyan High Court is expected to deliver its judgment on May 5, 2025.

Article Topics

data privacy  |  digital ID  |  identity verification  |  Kenya  |  proof of personhood  |  Thailand  |  World  |  World App  |  World Chat  |  World ID