The High Court of Kenya has ordered the digital identification project World (formerly known as Worldcoin) to delete the biometric data of local users. Judge Roselyne Aburili made the ruling in response to a lawsuit filed by the non-governmental organization Katiba Institute, which challenged the collection, processing, and transfer of iris and facial images conducted through the World Coin application and the Orb device.
This is reported by Business • Media
Court Orders
The court issued several significant orders, including:
- a ban on the Worldcoin Foundation and its agents from collecting or processing biometric data in Kenya without a proper data protection impact assessment or consent obtained through cryptocurrency rewards;
- the annulment of Worldcoin’s decision to collect and process biometric data without an appropriate data protection assessment, as well as based on consent obtained through Worldcoin incentives;
- an obligation to permanently delete all unlawfully collected biometric data within seven days under the supervision of the data protection authority.
At the time of writing, the Worldcoin (WLD) asset is trading at approximately $0.88. It is also worth noting that in January 2025, Brazil’s National Data Protection Authority imposed restrictions on World and mandated that the company Tools for Humanity, which is behind the project, suspend the offering of cryptocurrency or any financial compensation for collecting iris data from data subjects in Brazil.