In a nutshell: Platform W protects against bots through identity document verification, but stores biometric data in a way that experts say systematically leads to data breaches and creates lasting risks for identity theft.
The new European platform W links content creation to identity verification via identity documents and biometric data to combat bots and disinformation. However, security researchers warn of significant privacy risks in the processing of immutable biometric characteristics.
W is intended to serve as an alternative to X and limits active participation (posts, comments) to verified users. Reading content and following accounts remain possible anonymously. For verification, W uses a separate application called W Identity, through which users must submit passport numbers and selfies for facial recognition. According to CEO Ingmar Rentzhog, biometric data and documents are centrally deleted immediately after verification; due to the decentralized architecture, data otherwise remains locally on the user’s device. The actual social media platform has no access to this data unless the user explicitly consents.
IT security researchers, however, fundamentally criticize the storage of immutable biometric characteristics. Unlike passwords, passport numbers and facial data cannot be renewed if stolen and remain a permanent target for identity theft and fraud crimes. Security researcher Arnoldas Radišauskas points to the example of platform Tea: although Tea contractually assured that identity photos would be deleted after verification, passports and selfies were discovered there for years in a publicly accessible database.
The repeated failure of such a security model reveals structural weaknesses: centralized storage of sensitive biometric data creates concentrated attack risk. Even if technical controls and decentralized architectures are provided, the mere existence of this data — whether temporary or in backups — represents elevated exposure risk in the event of security breaches. For CISOs, this presents an assessment task: how effective is an identity-bound bot prevention measure when its privacy costs outweigh the security gains?
Source: www.it-daily.net · Published June 21, 2026
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