- The Kenyan High Court has ordered the World project to delete all biometric data collected from Kenyan citizens
- The court has ruled that the data collection violated Kenya’s Data Protection Act due to a lack of valid consent
- World has been barred from collecting further biometric data in Kenya unless it complies with national privacy laws
Kenya’s High Court has ruled against Sam Altman’s World project, requiring the deletion of all biometric data collected from Kenyans. The court concluded that the data was collected unlawfully, with no valid consent or mandatory privacy assessments and has also imposed a ban on any further data collection by World within Kenya until legal safeguards are fully met. Questions have been raised over its data collection practises ever since its orb was revealed in 2021 and have continued in the intervening years.
Kenya Stay Out of Trouble?
Kenya has never been a happy hunting ground for World and its predecessor Worldcoin. In August 2023, a warehouse belonging to its operator, Tools for Humanity, was raided over the project’s data-gathering and storage procedures. Shortly after, the Kenyan government established a committee to investigate its activities. It is unknown whether this week’s ruling was related to this investigation, but on 5 May, the project, which scans individuals’ irises in exchange for cryptocurrency, was found to have violated Kenya’s Data Protection Act of 2019. The court emphasized that offering tokens as an incentive invalidates the consent required by law.
The case was brought by civil society organizations concerned with data rights and constitutional protections, with petitioners arguing that World had failed to conduct a Data Protection Impact Assessment and did not properly inform citizens about how their sensitive biometric data would be stored, used, or shared. The High Court agreed, declaring the collection process unconstitutional and in breach of privacy rights.
World Must Delete all Data
As a result of the ruling, Justice Roselyne Aburili ordered World to permanently delete all biometric data it collected in Kenya within seven days; the Office of the Data Protection Commissioner has been tasked with overseeing this process to ensure compliance. The court also prohibited the company from conducting any future biometric data collection unless it first performs a thorough impact assessment and obtains fully informed and voluntary consent.
This ruling marks a significant moment in global digital governance, sending a strong signal that tech companies must respect national data laws and individual rights, even when operating across borders.
