Worldcoin has deleted all personal and biometric data collected from Kenyans in 2023, complying with a High Court directive, the Office of the Data Protection Commissioner (ODPC) has confirmed.
The ODPC said the US- and Germany-based firm, operating through Tools For Humanity, fully erased all biometric information gathered using its iris-scanning orbs.
The deletion followed a court ruling issued on May 5, 2025, which found that the data collection exercise had been conducted illegally for more than four months.
“The Data Controller has deleted all biometric data previously collected from Kenyan citizens,” the commissioner’s office stated, adding that it oversaw the deletion process as ordered by the court.
The ruling had given Worldcoin seven days to permanently erase the data and tasked the ODPC with ensuring compliance. However, the regulator did not disclose how many Kenyans had participated in the exercise or the volume of data collected.
Worldcoin, a cryptocurrency-linked digital identity project co-founded by OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman, launched public sign-ups globally on June 24, 2023.
Kenya quickly emerged as one of its most active markets, with large crowds turning up in Nairobi to scan their iris patterns in exchange for a digital identity known as World ID.
The company said the biometric IDs were designed to distinguish real humans from bots, helping curb fraud and spam in the cryptocurrency ecosystem.
To incentivise participation, users were offered 25 free Worldcoin tokens, valued at about Sh8,200 at the time.
However, the Kenyan government suspended the exercise on August 2, 2023, citing concerns over data privacy, security and whether participants had been adequately informed about how their sensitive information would be used and stored.
According to the ODPC, Worldcoin has not resumed any data collection activities in Kenya since the suspension, even after the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions dropped its investigation into the firm in June 2024.
Kenya joins several other jurisdictions, including Indonesia, Spain, Hong Kong and Portugal, that have taken action against the project over privacy and data protection concerns.
Meanwhile the Katiba Institute has welcomed the High Court’s supervision of the deletion of all data unlawfully collected from Kenyans by Worldcoin, and commends the Office of the Data Protection Commissioner (ODPC) for ensuring full compliance with the Court’s orders.
The institute added that the outcome affirms Kenyans constitutional rights to privacy, dignity, and data protection are non-negotiable, and that no technology, however novel, operates above the law.
According to them the decision reinforces the authority of the Data Protection Act and the critical role of independent oversight in holding powerful actors accountable.
