Kenya’s High Court Orders Worldcoin to Delete Biometric Data Over Privacy Concerns

The Kenyan High Court has ordered the Worldcoin Foundation to permanently delete all biometric data collected from Kenyan citizens, citing violations of the country’s Data Protection Act of 2019. The decision by Lady Justice Roselyne Aburili marks a significant setback for the controversial cryptocurrency and digital identity project co-founded by Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, and Alex Blania. The court also prohibited Worldcoin from further collecting or processing biometric data in Kenya without conducting a mandatory Data Protection Impact Assessment (DPIA) and securing valid, non-incentivised consent from users.