What happened

Indonesia’s Ministry of Communication and Digital suspended Worldcoin’s operating permit following public complaints and reports of suspicious activity involving Worldcoin and its World ID identity verification service. 

Authorities found that Worldcoin’s local representative, PT Terang Bulan Abadi, was operating without the required electronic system provider (PSE) license and was instead using a registration certificate belonging to another company, PT Sandina Abadi Nusantara.

The police are also investigating whether Worldcoin’s data collection practices violated Indonesian law, especially since users were required to submit sensitive biometric information to access services.

Why it happened

The suspension was triggered by multiple regulatory violations:

• Operating without the necessary electronic system provider license (TDPSE).

• Using the registration credentials of another legal entity to provide digital services.

• Collecting sensitive biometric data (face and iris scans) from Indonesian users without clear legal compliance or adequate safeguards.

These actions were discovered during a regulatory review prompted by public complaints and suspicions about Worldcoin’s activities. 

Indonesian authorities emphasised that non-compliance with registration obligations and the misuse of another entity’s identity for digital operations are serious violations under local law.