Kenya has ordered Sam Altman’s World Web3 project to delete collected biometric data of its nationals. The Nairobi High Court said that the controversial human ID project failed to acquire valid consent from the Office of the Data Protection Commissioner (ODPC) before obtaining the eye scans of Kenyan citizens to give them their World IDs. Neither World nor Altman have reacted to the development yet.
The World project, headquartered in the US, aims to assign “World IDs” to global citizens as an “international proof of personhood.” These IDs will eliminate the need for people to share their personal details for web-based interactions.
In August last year, representatives of the project had set up booths in several parts of the world to collect iris scans of people through its own one-of-a-kind machine called the Orb. Spain and Germany are among other regions that have flagged World’s biometric collection as problematic in the past.
Here’s What Happened
Justice Aburili Roselyne has directed the World project to permanently delete the facial images and eye scans of its Kenyan subscribers. A window of seven days has been issued for World to comply with the court’s orders. A designated data protection officer will be overseeing the process.
The court has further prohibited World from collecting any more biometric data from Kenyan citizens.
The Katiba Institute and the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ Kenya) spearheaded the case against the World project, arguing that its data collection practices were invasive and risky.
Joshua Malidzo Nyawa, a counsel for the Katiba Institute, has called the development a winning moment for the right to privacy. The institute also posted a detailed overview of the court’s verdict on X (formerly Twitter).
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> Today, Lady Justice Aburili Roselyne has allowed our Judicial Review Application, where we challenged the collection, processing, and transfer of iris and facial images (biometric data)using the World Coin App and the Orb… https://t.co/7SisPV7ZCd> > — Katiba Institute (@katibainstitute) May 5, 2025
Altman’s response to Kenya’s decision remains awaited for now.
Kenya’s History With the World Project
In 2023, Kenya became first country in the world to bring the World project, previously called “Worldcoin”, under investigative scrutiny. However, in 2024, the country vaguely ended its probe on Altman’s Web3 project.
In June 2024, Kenyan authorities told Altman to register his World project with the Office of the Data Protection Commission (ODPC) and the Communication Authority of Kenya (CAK).
However, the Katiba Institute and the ICJ Kenya reached out to the High Court alleging that the project is violating the rights of the Kenyan citizens by collecting their data without the necessary government permissions. The two parties submitted their arguments to the court in March 2025.