Korea’s regulator fined Worldcoin $830 000 for data collection violations

What’s new? South Korea’s Personal Information Protection Commission (PIPC) has fined the Worldcoin protocol and its developer Tools For Humanity (TFH) 1,1 billion Korean won ($830 000) for violations in the collection and transmission of personal data. To join the project, users must undergo an iris scan at a physical Worldcoin office, after which they are assigned a “digital passport” World ID and given a number of WLD native tokens as a gift.

The regulator’s statement

What else is known? An investigation into the project was launched in April this year. The regulator noted that the Worldcoin Foundation NPO did not properly notify users about the purpose of collecting and the retention period of iris scans, and did not submit a localized version of the biometric data consent form by March 22.

In addition, Worldcoin and TFH failed to disclose where personal information was being transferred, failed to provide users with an option to delete it, and allowed citizens under the age of 14 to access the procedure.

Of the total fine for violations in the processing and transfer of data abroad, the NPO Worldcoin Foundation must pay $545 000 and TFH must pay $285 000.

Officials noted they would not prohibit the collection of sensitive data in the country, provided Worldcoin fixes the problems.

TFH is co-founded by Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, which developed the ChatGPT AI bot. Worldcoin is authenticating users with Orb devices to protect against the potential negative impact of AI. Over 6,7 million people from more than 160 countries have now been scanned.

TFH later noted that the violations identified by PIPC have already been eliminated, and the regulator’s decision indicates that the project’s activities are fundamentally compliant with regulatory requirements.

Earlier, Worldcoin’s iris scanning procedure was banned by authorities in Spain, Portugal, and Hong Kong, while Colombia launched the project’s investigation.

This month, Worldcoin’s physical offices were opened in Malaysia.

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WLD ranks 84th in the overall ranking of cryptocurrencies by market capitalization with over $1 billion and is trading at $2,14, adding 17% overnight. The weekly gain was 35%, but the asset has lost 41% since the beginning of the year.