Korean regulator fines Worldcoin $830,000 for data collection violations

What happened? South Korea's Personal Information Protection Commission (PIPC) has fined the Worldcoin protocol and its developer, Tools For Humanity (TFH), 1.1 billion won ($830,000) for violations in the collection and transmission of personal data. To join the project, users must undergo an iris scan at a physical Worldcoin office, after which they are assigned a World ID "digital passport" and given several native WLD tokens as a gift.

Statement from the regulator

What else is known? An investigation into the project was launched in April of this year. The regulator noted that the Worldcoin Foundation NGO failed to properly notify users about the purpose of collecting and the storage period of iris scans, and also failed to provide a localized version of the consent form for the use of biometric data by March 22.