Is Reddit considering integrating the iris verification device Orb from Sam Altman's Worldcoin?
Anonymous platform + biometric technology, this combination is explosive.
The first step of Web3 identity verification entering mainstream social media?🧵
According to two insiders:
Reddit is in talks with Tools for Humanity, the company behind Worldcoin, which may allow users to verify "I am a unique person" through iris scanning.
Not real names, not phone numbers, but — eyeballs👁️
1. Why is Reddit considering World ID?
The context is key👇
🔸 AI-generated content is rampant, making it hard to distinguish truth from falsehood
🔸 Bots posting and vote manipulation are rampant
🔸 Governments around the world are pressuring platforms to strengthen age verification and user identification
🔸 However, Reddit is a community culture that places extreme importance on "anonymity"
2. Therefore, what Worldcoin offers is quite subtle:
✅ Does not record names, does not store photos
✅ Verifies you are a unique human (not a robot)
✅ Does not undermine the platform's "anonymous culture"
The ideal sounds great. The question is — would you dare to scan your eyeball?👀
3. If Reddit becomes a third-party verification platform for World ID, the implications are significant:
🔹 The first mainstream Web2 social platform to introduce a Web3 identity protocol
🔹 Tools for Humanity finally finds a "killer application" scenario
🔹 Worldcoin's long-term idea of "universal identity + UBI" is expected to break out and spread
4. A brief look back at Worldcoin's story:
Co-founded by Sam Altman (yes, the one from OpenAI)
🌍 Aims to achieve global basic income (UBI) through cryptocurrency
👁️ Verifies identity by scanning eyeballs through Orb
💰 Gives you tokens in exchange for your "human identity"
The controversy has never stopped: privacy, centralization, security…
5. Reddit's identity experiment may raise three major issues:
1️⃣ User privacy vs verification effectiveness
2️⃣ Pressure from government regulations vs upholding platform spirit
3️⃣ Centralization of World ID data vs decentralized vision
This will be a deep collision between Web2 and Web3.
6. But it is undeniable that if this step is really taken:
• It will bring unprecedented exposure and real usage scenarios to Worldcoin
• It may also inject a strong boost into the entire "Web3 identity verification" ecosystem
• More likely to become a new standard prototype for online trust mechanisms in the AI era
