High Court Ruling on Worldcoin
In a significant legal development, a High Court in Nairobi, Kenya, has instructed the crypto start-up World, previously known as Worldcoin, to erase all biometric information it has gathered within the country. This ruling intensifies the examination of the organization’s data collection strategies, which have come under fire globally.
The court’s decision was based on the finding that World and its representatives collected sensitive biometric information without obtaining proper consent from the Office of the Data Protection Commissioner (ODPC). They did so by offering cryptocurrency as an incentive, breaching the crucial concept of informed consent.
Legal Representation and Implications
Representing the Katiba Institute, the NGO that initiated the lawsuit, attorney Joshua Malidzo Nyawa characterized the ruling as a triumph for privacy rights in Kenya. He emphasized that the right to privacy is enshrined in the constitution and that any violation can stem from non-compliance with procedural requirements such as not carrying out a data privacy impact assessment.
Furthermore, he argued that consent obtained through financial inducements, whether in the form of monetary offers or cryptocurrency, cannot be considered genuine and is therefore unlawful.
World’s Operations and Future Restrictions
World, which did not respond to a request for commentary from Decrypt, is spearheaded by CEO Sam Altman and co-founder Alex Blania. The initiative deploys custom-made orbs featuring iris-scanning technology to confirm user identities, resulting in the issuance of a “World ID“. In return, participants are awarded WLD tokens, the project’s cryptocurrency, a portion of which has been allocated through in-person sign-up sessions.
The court ordered the World Foundation, along with its agents, to eliminate all biometric data collected under the oversight of the ODPC within a week. Additionally, it prohibited the company from gathering or processing any such data without conducting appropriate evaluations and obtaining legitimate, non-incentivized consent in the future.
Past Scandals and Current Challenges
This ruling comes less than a year after a prior scandal involving World’s operations in Kenya, during which government officials referred to the company as “a gang of criminals.” Although a ban on its activities was lifted following a police inquiry in June 2024, this latest court decision poses a substantial challenge to World in its attempts to regain credibility in the marketplace.
International Scrutiny and Expansion Plans
While the World initiative promotes itself as a “privacy-first” identity solution with assurances of local data storage and cryptographic safeguards, skepticism remains from data protection regulators worldwide. For instance, in Indonesia, the project faced suspension due to allegations of non-compliance in its registration and purported serious violations of local legislation. Similar enforcement actions have been seen in regions like Hong Kong, Germany, and Brazil, all pointing towards concerns regarding data privacy.
Despite these setbacks internationally, World is striving to expand its presence in the United States, with launches planned in six major cities including Atlanta, Austin, Los Angeles, Miami, Nashville, and San Francisco, where residents can exchange their participation for WLD tokens. However, as of the latest trading data from CoinGecko, the value of WLD has dipped by 6.8%, trading at $0.86.
