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Worldcoin agent operated without license, MPs told

Sense Marketing was not registered as data collector but harvested personal data for the platform.

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by LUKE AWICH

News13 September 2023 - 01:25

In Summary


  • Sense Management recruited agents who facilitated scanning of irises.
  • MPs are investigating Worldcoin activities in the country.

MPs are investigating how a local firm was engaged by Worldcoin to collect sensitive personal data from Kenyans without a licence.

The MPs were taken aback after it emerged Sense Marketing – a local subsidiary – is not a certified data collector, but went ahead to harvest personal data on behalf of Worldcoin.

In a submission before the committee chaired by Narok West MP Gabriel Tongoyo, Sense Marketing managing director Kelvin Olende admitted they helped Kenyans to sign up for the Worldcoin app.

According to the signed contract, Sense Marketing was tasked with recruitment of agents who facilitated Kenyans to sign up for scanning of their irises which has now become a subject of investigations.

Signing up involved inputting personal details as well as scanning of the irises.

The activities, according to the committee, constitutes collection of personal data, an exercise that only a registered company has the mandate to do.

Homa Bay Town MP Opondo Kaluma, a member of the ad hoc committee probing Woldcoin activities, said it is a serious breach of the law for a company to engage in such a delicate activity involving sensitive personal data without license.

“You are struggling to deny that you were collecting data but the agreement indicates you were collecting personal data,” Kaluma said.

“If you are not registered as a data collector in Kenya how were you able to do the data collection in the country?” committee vice chairman John Kiarie (Dagoretti South MP) said. 

But Olende denied the allegations, claiming their mandate only ended at explaining to consumers about the app and allowing them to make decisions whether to sign up or not.

He also clarified that there was no minor recruited during the exercise that lasted almost two years in the country.

According to the MD, their agents were given orbs to verify proof of humanity without storing any captured data, an assertion that the committee rejected.

He said all the consumers made voluntary decisions to sign up for iris scanning after being taken through the process.

“The agreement was to be an operator and the task was to recruit a team of agents who will be deployed to various malls and events to recruit people onto the Worldoin platform,” he told the committee.

“They (agents) were to educate people about Worldcoin informing them of what it is. For those interest, they were to assist them to download the app from the app store and register for the service after accepting all the terms and conditions.

“As Sense Marketing, we did not collect any data of any kind. This was not part of what we were to do, and all agents understood that much.”


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