Bavarian regulator’s decision is binding at European level
The Bavarian Regional Office for Data Protection (BayLDA) concluded this Thursday that users should be allowed to delete , a decision that is binding at European level.
The German cabinet opened one in April 2023 and has now concluded that Worldcoin must improve the way it handles data stored in Europe.
“All users who have made their iris data available to Worldcoin will, in the future, have the unlimited possibility of having their right to erasure implemented,” said BayLDA president Michael Will in a statement.
With today’s decision, “we are ensuring compliance with basic European standards for those affected in a technologically demanding and legally complex case,” he added.
At the heart of BayLDA’s research were Worldcoin’s data protection standards, as well as users’ rights, with a special emphasis on the right to withdraw their authorization for storing biometric data.
The result is that, despite the improvements introduced and at the request of various authorities, adjustments are still necessary so that data processing complies with current regulations, states the entity.
Therefore, the company is urged to implement an erasure procedure in accordance with European regulations within one month of publication of the resolution.
Furthermore, Worldcoin will, in the future, have to request users’ approval for certain stages of data processing, and will also be ordered to delete certain data stored without a sufficient legal basis.
BayLDA’s decision is binding at the European level, as it was adopted in coordination with all European data protection agencies involved, as Worldcoin’s activities span the entire European Union.
The Worldcoin platform, created in 2019 by Sam Altman, founder of OpenAI, the company that developed ChatGPT, has been collecting biometric data, in several countries and also in Portugal, through iris reading.
The Spanish Data Protection Agency (AEPD) in June said the company committed to suspending this activity in Spain until the end of the year or until there is a final resolution on the matter, while other countries have adopted similar measures.
In 2024, Worldcoin began recording the irises of people exchanging cryptocurrencies in various parts of the world, arguing that all information it collects is anonymous and that users always maintain control of their data.
However, the AEPD received several complaints against the company and decided, on an injunction basis, to prohibit the company from continuing this practice.
