The Bavarian State Office for Data Protection (BayLDA) has ordered World, formerly known as Worldcoin, to delete biometric data it gathered from users due to violations of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
This order has sparked a legal battle, as World is appealing the decision. BayLDA claims that the World’s practices, especially its iris scans, did not have a strong legal basis and violated GDPR rules. The regulator has required World to set up a deletion process that follows privacy laws and to get clear user permission for any future data collection.
The investigation started in early 2023 and recently finished, resulting in the release of BayLDA’s findings. World argues that the decision relies on old technologies and claims that its current practices follow GDPR rules. This situation shows the clash between new technologies and strict European privacy rules.
This dispute could greatly impact World’s operations in the European Union, which has strict data protection laws. Critics say that the legal challenge could harm World’s identity verification model and slow its growth in the area.
World is a digital identity platform that uses biometric data to create a global identity system. The company rebranded in October but continues to deal with regulatory issues and market instability, leading to fluctuations in its native token, WLD. Germany’s recent actions against cryptocurrency and digital assets, including selling its Bitcoin holdings, increase regulatory pressure on the world.
Despite the legal challenges, World is still focused and the appeal process will probably slow down the enforcement of BayLDA’s order. The future effects of this legal fight are unclear, especially about whether World can handle privacy issues well enough to please regulators.
This case shows the growing attention on collecting biometric data and the difficulties tech companies have in keeping up with rules while trying to innovate.
