Hong Kong’s privacy watchdog has ordered the Worldcoin Foundation to cease all operations in the region as it found the project contravenes local privacy regulations.

In a statement released Wednesday, the Office of the Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data (PCPD) said that Worldcoin had collected facial and iris data from at least 8,302 individuals during its operations in Hong Kong.

The PCPD, which conducted 10 covert visits at six Worldcoin locations in December 2023 and January 2024, said that such information collection was “unnecessary and excessive,” contravening the requirements of the Data Protection Principles.

“Worldcoin would retain personal data for a maximum of 10 years for the purpose of training AI models for the user verification process,” the watchdog said. “The PCPD …