Worldcoin deletes Kenyans’ biometric data following court order
Worldcoin has deleted all biometric data collected from Kenyans after a High Court ruled the project’s data practices unlawful.
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Worldcoin has deleted all biometric data collected from Kenyan citizens in compliance with a High Court order that found the firm’s data collection unlawful under Kenya’s data protection laws.<br />
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Worldcoin is a crypto-backed digital identity project co-founded by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, designed to verify that users are real humans by scanning their irises with specialised hardware in exchange for a digital ID and cryptocurrency tokens.<br />
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The Office of the Data Protection Commissioner (ODPC) confirmed that all iris scans and other biometric identifiers gathered during Worldcoin’s 2023 enrolment exercise have now been erased from the project’s systems.<br />
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The deletion follows a May 5, 2025 High Court ruling that Tools for Humanity — the company behind Worldcoin — violated the Data Protection Act of 2019 by collecting sensitive personal data without proper consent and without conducting a mandatory Data Protection Impact Assessment (DPIA).<br />
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The court directed the data controller to destroy the data within seven days under ODPC supervision.<br />
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Worldcoin’s operations in Kenya began in 2023 with the deployment of its signature “orb” devices, spherical scanners that captured iris and facial scans from participants. In exchange, users were offered 25 free Worldcoin tokens, an incentive that drew large crowds but also deep concern from privacy advocates and regulators.<br />
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Kenya’s regulatory pushback was swift. In August 2023, the government suspended the project amid fears the data could be misused or transferred outside the country without sufficient safeguards. Earlier directives from the ODPC had already instructed the company to halt data collection, only to be ignored until the formal government suspension.<br />
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This development closes a significant chapter in Kenya’s tussle with Worldcoin but also highlights broader tensions between innovation and privacy in the digital identity space.<br />
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When Worldcoin first arrived on the continent, it was pitched as a tool for financial inc...
