Personal Information Protection Commision Fined And Issued A Corrective Order On WorldCoin

The Personal Information Protection Commission (PIPC) has fined WorldCoin 1.14 billion KRW and issued a corrective order for violating the Personal Information Protection Act. Worldcoin Foundation and Tools for Humanity (TFH) were found to have illegally collected and transferred iris information of domestic customers to overseas countries.

Worldcoin is an iris recognition-based cryptocurrency that operates by dataing an individual’s iris through a device called an “orb” and connecting it to the blockchain. Approximately 30,000 people in South Korea have completed iris authentication.

The main violations include failure to notify the required notice when creating the iris code, failure to obtain separate consent for processing sensitive information, and failure to notify the statutory notice when transferring overseas. In addition, issues such as lack of procedures for deleting iris codes and suspending processing, and lack of procedures for verifying the age of children under 14 were also pointed out.

The PIPC imposed fines of 725 million KRW on Worldcoin Foundation and 379 million KRW on TFH, and recommended that the company establish a separate consent process for processing sensitive information, provide a function to delete personal information, and introduce age verification procedures.

WorldCoin expressed its respect for the PIPC’s decision and promised to continue its efforts to protect personal information. This action demonstrates the regulator’s strict oversight of the handling of sensitive personal information such as biometric data, and is expected to set an important precedent for similar service providers in the future.

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