Kenya May Shut Down Worldcoin Project

Kenya’s parliament is taking a firm stance. A group of leaders from the parliament suggests stopping a project named Worldcoin due to concerns about privacy and the collection of personal data. 

Despite a prior warning in May to stop its activities, Worldcoin kept collecting personal information from Kenyan people, which could even include data from children. Now, the Kenyan parliamentary committee insists on strong action: they recommend to “turn off” all Worldcoin’s online platforms and check the project’s connected companies for possible illegal activities.

"Kenyan registration on the Worldcoin App is still active, even with a current court order and directives to stop it," says the committee.

Worldcoin, in its activities in Kenya, is going against orders. They’re continuing to sign up Kenyan citizens through their online app, even when they’ve been clearly told to stop by both the courts and other authorities. The report mentions worries for the privacy of Kenyan people and notes that tracking the "orbs" (the tools that collect eyeball scans for checking identity) in Kenya is tough.

The leaders also think that the Kenyan government should make new, detailed rules for digital money and related service providers. They want to see changes to existing rules about online crimes and taxes. Kenyan leaders are worried about the uncontrolled use of cryptocurrencies and believe trying to fully turn the global money system into a decentralized one can be dangerous for the country.

The project is under a global magnifying glass, too. Worldcoin, which started with the idea of using eyeball scans to tell real people and online robots apart, is being watched and criticized by regulatory bodies across the world for sidestepping rules about protecting data and the privacy of users.

Official watchdogs in several countries, including Germany, Argentina, France, and the United Kingdom, have already raised alarms about Worldcoin. They have started looking more closely at what it’s doing. The recommendation from the Kenyan parliamentary committee to halt Worldcoin’s operations in Kenya underlines the global discussion about the project’s way of handling data privacy and the overall regulatory frame for cryptocurrencies and digital identity checks.