German regulator opens investigation into Worldcoin

The Bavarian state data protection supervisory authority (BayLDA) has been investigating since late 2022 the Worldcoin project by Sam Altman regarding the collection of biometric information. Reuters.

The regulator fears that the company processes “sensitive data on a very large scale” using new technologies.

According to BayLDA chair Michael Will, such a situation poses substantial risks, including in relation to the user agreement, which must be “exhaustive and clear”.

“These technologies, at first glance, have not been adequately developed and analyzed for a specific primary purpose — processing data in the context of the transfer of financial information,” added Will.

The project has drawn close attention from local authorities, as the Tools For Humanity development team has a subsidiary in Germany.

The official noted that several European supervisory authorities have also shown interest in Worldcoin and are requesting information about the company.

Earlier, the UK Information Commissioner’s Office said that will study the process of user verification by the project. In addition, France’s National Commission on Informatics and Liberties called the legality of the startup’s biometric data collection “dubious”.

Worldcoin announced the official launch on July 24. The project’s main product—the World ID protocol—is based on zero-knowledge proofs. It is a mobile tool that allows people to undergo identification via retina scan or phone number.

In July, Altman showed a long queue in Japan of people seeking biometric verification in exchange for WLD tokens.