Kenya court rules against Sam Altman's World, orders data deletion and halts biometrics collection

Kenya's High Court has ordered the World Foundation, formerly known as Worldcoin and co-founded by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, to delete the biometric data of local users, ruling that its collection violated the right to privacy.

Justice Aburili Roselyne ruled on Monday that the project must permanently delete users' biometric data, including facial images and iris scans, within seven days under the supervision of the data protection officer, according to Katiba Institute, which, together with ICJ Kenya, brought the case against World.

The judge also issued an order prohibiting World from collecting or processing any further biometric data in Kenya. Additionally, the court issued an order of Certiorari nullifying the decision by World and its agents to collect or process biometric data without conducting an adequate data protection impact assessment.

"The judgment rightly underscores that even in the digital age, constitutional rights especially the right to privacy under Article 31 of the Constitution must be upheld," said ICJ Kenya.

Kenya was once one of the largest markets for sign-ups to World, with hundreds of thousands of users registering before the project was suspended by local authorities in August 2023. However, in June 2024, the project announced plans to resume operations after local police dropped their investigation.

World did not immediately respond to The Block's request for comment.

World’s launches in other countries have frequently sparked concerns over data privacy and protection. On Sunday, Indonesia's digital ministry suspended the operating permit of World for alleged violations of electronic system operation regulations.

However, the project announced last week that it is expanding in the U.S., initially launching in six cities — Atlanta, Austin, Los Angeles, Miami, Nashville and San Francisco.

The price of WLD fell 6.99% in the past 24 hours to trade at $0.89 at press time, according to The Block's price page. It has a market capitalization of $1.2 billion.