In a pivotal legal decision, Kenya’s High Court has ordered Worldcoin, the biometric cryptocurrency initiative co-founded by OpenAI’s Sam Altman, to erase all biometric data it collected from Kenyan citizens. The court ruled that the company had breached the nation’s Data Protection Act of 2019 through its data collection activities.
Justice Roselyne Aburili, who delivered the ruling, instructed Worldcoin to permanently delete the iris and facial recognition data of more than 300,000 Kenyans within a week. The deletion must occur under the supervision of the Office of the Data Protection Commissioner (ODPC). Furthermore, the court issued a ban on any future collection or processing of biometric data by the company within Kenya.
The judgment followed a legal petition brought forward by the Katiba Institute, a civil society organisation advocating for constitutionalism and human rights. The Institute contended that Worldcoin failed to carry out a required Data Protection Impact Assessment (DPIA) and instead secured user consent through financial incentives, offering around Ksh7,000 (equivalent to $50) in cryptocurrency in exchange for iris scans.
Worldcoin commenced its activities in Kenya in 2022, drawing thousands of participants who submitted to iris scanning via a device known as the “Orb” in return for digital tokens. However, legal and ethical questions soon surfaced regarding whether the project complied with the country’s stringent data privacy regulations. In August 2023, authorities suspended Worldcoin’s operations, citing potential threats to both national security and the integrity of personal data.
Despite the halt, Worldcoin revealed its intention to resume its Kenyan rollout in June 2024, following the closure of a criminal investigation by the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI). The company expressed its readiness to collaborate with government bodies and aspired to relaunch its World ID registration campaign across the nation.
However, the recent High Court ruling poses a significant obstacle to those ambitions, highlighting Kenya’s firm stance on safeguarding personal data. The case reinforces the importance of lawful and ethical practices in handling biometric information and contributes to the wider international scrutiny of Worldcoin’s operations. Similar concerns have prompted countries such as Indonesia to suspend the project.
As digital identity technologies continue to evolve, Kenya’s landmark ruling stands as a powerful reminder of the necessity for transparency, regulatory compliance, and unwavering respect for individual privacy in technological innovation.