World ID
Ranked 4 of 4 identity verification services by recommenders
Aims to prove that a user is a real human without revealing their name, to counter bots and AI fakes online. Critics say iris scans and stored identity data create serious privacy and leak risks.
Aims to prove that a user is a real human without revealing their name, to counter bots and AI fakes online. Critics say iris scans and stored identity data create serious privacy and leak risks.
38 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 8
- criticize it
- 30
- approval share
- 21%
Recommended in 6 of 13 months
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: recommended
- May 2026: recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 8 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, not met.
- 0.2 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, not met.
- Recommended in 6 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Proves humanity amid AI and bots
“with the proliferation of AI, it makes sense we'll eventually need safeguards to ensure a user's humanity”
Comment from 2 Nov 2025 in “Anonymous credentials: rate-limit bots and agents without compromising privacy” “I think World ID (formerly Worldcoin) can be a really cool part of the solution to this”
Comment from 19 Sep 2026 in “GPT-6 Astra Solves a WWI German Radio Cipher” “The Internet is unusable nowadays because of bots.”
Comment from 27 Apr 2026 in “U.S. companies back Sam Altman's World ID even as much of the world pushes back”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Biometric and identity data leak risk
“I fail to see how this solves the "prove you're a human" problem, when those credentials will then inevitably leak, be stolen or resold.”
Comment from 22 Apr 2026 in “Sam Altman's Creepy Eyeball-Scanning Company Gets in Bed with Zoom and Tinder” “Massive database of 1 billion people's unique genital IDs stolen by hackers and posted on Reddit”
Comment from 27 Apr 2026 in “U.S. companies back Sam Altman's World ID even as much of the world pushes back” “doesn't require submitting scans of your ID to third parties that can then be stored and leak”
Comment from 22 Apr 2026 in “Sam Altman's Creepy Eyeball-Scanning Company Gets in Bed with Zoom and Tinder” Mass surveillance and privacy erosion
“Got shut down pretty hard in a bunch of places as a potentially illegal invasion of privacy.”
Comment from 5 Nov 2025 in “Uncle Sam wants to scan your iris and collect your DNA, citizen or not” “His solution to distinguishing humans from bots is mass biometric surveillance.”
Comment from 28 Feb 2026 in “Our Agreement with the Department of War” “It erodes our right to privacy and should be shouted down at every opportunity.”
Comment from 27 Apr 2026 in “U.S. companies back Sam Altman's World ID even as much of the world pushes back” - Comment from 27 Apr 2026 in “U.S. companies back Sam Altman's World ID even as much of the world pushes back”
Distrust of founder Sam Altman
“Sam Altman would love to sell you a solution for the unfortunate fire that he dumped gasoline on.”
Comment from 11 Mar 2026 in “Don't post generated/AI-edited comments. HN is for conversation between humans.” “so we're trusting the guy who created tech to make it easier for bots to exist on the internet”
Comment from 27 Apr 2026 in “U.S. companies back Sam Altman's World ID even as much of the world pushes back” “Giving your retina scan to one of the main Slop Bros, what could possibly go wrong?”
Comment from 31 Mar 2026 in “Claude Code's source code has been leaked via a map file in their NPM registry” - Comment from 27 Apr 2026 in “U.S. companies back Sam Altman's World ID even as much of the world pushes back”
Blockchain hype and dystopian premise
“this idiotic project is running so long after the "blockchain for everything" mania ended”
Comment from 27 Apr 2026 in “U.S. companies back Sam Altman's World ID even as much of the world pushes back” “People were sort of making fun of the whole company and the dystopian premise”
Comment from 13 Jun 2026 in “We've suspended access to Claude Mythos 5 and Claude Fable 5”
Other identity verification services people recommend
The three most recommended other identity verification services, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Persona identity verification | 27 | 143 | 16% | 7 | — | — |
| Keybase | 11 | 11 | 50% | 7 | — | — |
| Didit | 11 | 2 | 85% | 1 | — | — |
| World IDThis page | 8 | 30 | 21% | 6 | — | — |
What people said
35 of the 39 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“I think World ID (formerly Worldcoin) can be a really cool part of the solution to this”
“a similar technology to World being built by a more trustworthy company”
“I'm not a fan of World, but this is a portent of things to come.”
“produces a far more coherent product”
“People were sort of making fun of the whole company and the dystopian premise”
“unsavory private sector providers like World ID stepping in”
“the iris scan aspect is scary but the alternatives don't seem to solve the problem either”
“this eye thing will never work”
“Massive database of 1 billion people's unique genital IDs stolen by hackers and posted on Reddit”
“Judging solely by their FAQ, this is not enough. Iris photos can be fabricated client-side, including by AI, and can be shared.”
“I also have no faith in this particular attempt at it”
“Tech like World ID is scary.”
“don't you want to be the one with copies of everyone's documents, instead of the other guy?”
“The Internet is unusable nowadays because of bots.”
“Trying to make money on selling the solution to the problem you caused”
“im afraid if i rolled my eyes any harder that they would spin out of their sockets”
“his mark of the beast attempt # ?”
“this idiotic project is running so long after the "blockchain for everything" mania ended”
“so we're trusting the guy who created tech to make it easier for bots to exist on the internet”
“companies that got rich by hoarding data are excited to hoard more data”
“pushing to require mass surveillance of everyone doing anything”
“It erodes our right to privacy and should be shouted down at every opportunity.”
“there's an extraneous step here”
“rather than relying on a third party like World(coin)”
“I fail to see how this solves the "prove you're a human" problem, when those credentials will then inevitably leak, be stolen or resold.”
“doesn't require submitting scans of your ID to third parties that can then be stored and leak”
“Giving your retina scan to one of the main Slop Bros, what could possibly go wrong?”
“Sam Altman would love to sell you a solution for the unfortunate fire that he dumped gasoline on.”
“His solution to distinguishing humans from bots is mass biometric surveillance.”
“Maybe sama was onto something with World ID”
“It's all about more biometrics and PII for sama [0].”
“something like world.org or similar that protects privacy is needed”
“Sam Altman is selling the protection too”
“Got shut down pretty hard in a bunch of places as a potentially illegal invasion of privacy.”
“with the proliferation of AI, it makes sense we'll eventually need safeguards to ensure a user's humanity”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.