Internet personality and actor Adam Conover has come under fire for promoting the Sam Altman-backed crypto project, World Chain. The project received backlash in several countries due to data privacy concerns.
An Instagram reel posted on Conover’s official Instagram account showing the internet personality registering for a World ID on Sam Altman-backed crypto project World Chain (WLD) has sparked criticism and speculation online, particularly on Reddit forums.
In a three-minute long video jointly posted on the World official account, Adam Conover explained to the viewer that he was paid by World project to come to a keynote event they were hosting in San Francisco. He claimed that he was there to ask questions about the product, not to endorse it.
“So they do not want me to endorse it, they just want me to ask questions about it, skeptical questions and let you make up your own mind about it and hopefully help you understand what the hell it does,” said Conover in the video.
Throughout the video he is seen interacting with the project’s iris-scanning orb and a representative, asking questions about the project and the reason why it was paying people $41 in WLD tokens to register themselves on the app.
“There is so much you can do with this app, if you are into crypto. I am not into crypto. If you are, you might want to check it out. They also say that in the future, you will be able to log into Tinder and other services like that using World,” said Conover.
“Let me know what you’re gonna do, are you gonna get yourself Orbed or not? It’s entirely up to you,” continued.
Adam Conover’s not-so-skeptical approach to World Chain
Although Adam Conover does emphasize that he is not endorsing the product, users on Reddit criticized him for seemingly promoting the product and its usage. Adam Conover is well-known on the internet for being the host of the half-hour truTV show Adam Ruins Everything, where he debunks commonly held beliefs through an investigative logical approach.
Many found it ironic that Conover was now approaching the World project without much skepticism, a stark contrast to his internet personality which seemed to scrutinize things instead of buying into them so lightly.
“Even in the crypto space, Worldcoin is well-known to be a huge invasion of privacy and absolutely predatory. Adam – someone who’s entire shtick is deep research on popular topics – has no reason to not have known what he was promoting. Really disappointing,” said one Reddit user.
“And finally, with his work complete, Adam had ruined everything else, so he turned his power inward and ruined himself,” said another user.
Some have also highlighted the fact that the part of the video where Adam Conover is supposedly scanning his eye on an Orb, it is only shown very briefly. This prompted some users to accuse him of not really trusting the technology himself, yet he encourages other people to do so.
The World Network had previously been banned and scrutinized in countries like Indonesia, Brazil and Hong Kong over privacy concerns due to its iris-scanning verification.
Most recently, Indonesia’s Ministry of Communication and Digital temporarily suspended the platform on May 5 in light of complaints about suspicious activities related to the platform.
The project has declared that it would allow users to delete their unique iris code permanently, effectively “un-verifying” their World IDs. It has also clarified that the verification data stays on the user’s device and is not shared to any third-parties.
