Worldcoin deletes data collected from Kenyans in 2023

Worldcoin has deleted personal data collected from Kenyans in 2023, the Office of the Data Protection Commissioner (ODPC) has announced.

The move follows a High Court  judgment delivered in May 2025, which ordered Worldcoin’s parent company, Tools for Humanity, to delete the data and directed the ODPC to ensure compliance after it moved to court.

“Regarding the processing of Kenyans’ personal data by Tools for Humanity, we confirm that the Data Controller has deleted all biometric data previously collected from Kenyan citizens,” said ODPC in a notice.

“The Office remains dedicated to enforcing the law, protecting data subjects, and ensuring that all data controllers and processors are held accountable for any non-compliance.”

Worldcoin was co-founded in 2019 by US entrepreneur and OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman and Alex Blania.

In 2023, the company offered Kenyans 25 crypto tokens, worth about Sh8,200 at the time, in exchange for scanning their iris and facial recognition data. Its largest collection centre was at the Kenyatta International Convention Centre (KICC).

Worldcoin said its activities in Kenya were part of a pilot project aimed at developing digital IDs, following similar rollouts in Indonesia, Chile, Sudan and France in 2021.

Large crowds soon formed at  KICC as Kenyans queued to exchange their biometric data for cash. The ODPC later suspended the company’s operations, while the Interior Ministry announced it had launched investigations.

Police probed the matter and forwarded the file to the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions, led by Renson Ingonga. He later ordered the closure of the inquiry with no further police action, clearing the way for Worldcoin to resume operations.

The Directorate of Criminal Investigations communicated the closure of the file to Coulson Harney, a law firm representing Worldcoin.

This came months before Justice Roselyne Aburili ruled that the collection of biometric data was illegal, unconstitutional and a violation of the privacy rights of Kenyans who participated in the exercise.

The judge said the data was collected in contravention of Kenya’s data protection law, citing the payment as an inducement rather than adherence to data protection principles.

The ODPC’s confirmation that the data has been deleted comes months after Data Protection Commissioner Immaculate Kassait informed a parliamentary committee of the same.

In May 2025, Kassait told the Communication, Information and Innovation Committee of the National Assembly that her office had engaged Worldcoin to ensure the same after the High Court decision.

In 2024, while appearing before an Ad Hoc committee that was probing Worldcoin activites in the country, Blania said that their aim was to build the world largest identity and financial network and giving ownership to everyone.

“Our commitment to the people of Kenya is genuine. We have at all times endeavoured to operate honestly and above all transparently, we seek to create a global community of users, operators and developers and have invested in similar types of engagement and partnerships in other countries, including Germany, Portugal, Spain, Chile, and Argentina,” he said.