Colombia Investigates Worldcoin for Alleged Legal Violations

The Superintendence of Industry and Commerce of Colombia (SIC) has launched an investigation into Worldcoin. The regulator suspects that Sam Altman’s project has violated the country’s personal data protection regime.

#ATENCIÓN:rotating_light:| La SIC formuló pliego de cargos contra WORLDCOIN FOUNDATION y TOOLS FOR HUMANITY CORPORATION por presuntas infracciones al régimen de protección de datos personales. pic.twitter.com/C0Z3XHpik8

— Superintendencia de Industria y Comercio :flag-co: (@sicsuper) August 21, 2024

“The purpose of the proceedings is to determine whether the parties under investigation violated the regime […] when collecting confidential personal data,” the SIC statement reads.

If found guilty, SIC may impose fines or sanctions on Worldcoin. These could include a six-month suspension of activities or the “immediate and permanent closure” of operations related to confidential data.

Worldcoin launched in Colombia in June. At the time of writing, orbs are available in 25 locations across seven cities in the country.

¡Hola Colombia! World ID orb verifications are now available in Bogotá & Medellín ?? pic.twitter.com/4AdrI57WMu

— Worldcoin (@worldcoin) May 30, 2024

In December 2023, Worldcoin disabled the biometric verification feature using orbs for users in India, Brazil, and France.

The project has attracted interest from authorities in Argentina, the UK, France, and Germany.

Authorities in Portugal and Spain have ordered the halt of personal data collection.

Back in June 2024, the Kenyan prosecutor’s office ended its investigation into Worldcoin. The company received permission for iris scanning and other operations in the country.