Portuguese Authorities Halt Worldcoin’s Biometric Data Collection

Worldcoin’s division in Portugal has been ordered by local authorities to cease collecting personal data for 90 days, according to Reuters.

This decision follows a similar ban in neighboring Spain. Authorities in South Korea and Hong Kong have also initiated investigations into the company.

“The Portuguese regulator cited a high risk of violating citizens’ data protection rights, justifying urgent intervention to prevent serious harm. More than 300,000 citizens have provided their biometrics to Worldcoin,” the document states.

Over the past month, the agency received dozens of complaints about unauthorized data collection from minors, insufficient disclosure of service information, and the inability to withdraw consent for data provision.

Company representatives assured that Worldcoin “fully complies with all laws and regulations.”

The project’s main product, the World ID protocol, is based on zero-knowledge proofs. It is a tool that allows people to undergo identification using biometric data or a phone number.

In February, the team announced reaching 1 million daily active users in the World App. 

The launch of Worldcoin has raised data protection concerns among regulators in many countries. Authorities in the UK, France, Germany, Argentina, and Kenya have shown interest in the project’s activities. On March 21, Kenyan authorities rejected a request from the US government to lift the suspension of the project in their jurisdiction.

Previously, Worldcoin opened the source code of the main components of its orb software and introduced the Personal Custody privacy feature.

Back in January, Worldcoin developers announced an upgrade of the orbs. The biometric devices will become more “Apple-like.”

Prior to this, the company introduced World ID 2.0, integrated with several platforms, including Telegram, Reddit, Shopify, and Minecraft, for passwordless authentication.