Catenaa, Tuesday, May 13, 2025-Indonesia Ministry of Communication and Digital has suspended the operating permit of World, formerly known as Worldcoin, over alleged violations of electronic system operation regulations.
The project, co-founded by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, is under investigation after the ministry discovered that one of its local operators lacked the necessary legal permit to operate in the country.
The ministry’s statement, released on Sunday, revealed that PT. Terang Bulan Abadi, one of World’s local operators, was not registered as an electronic system operator and was operating under an invalid permit.
This, according to Alexander Sabar, the ministry’s director-general for digital supervision, constitutes a serious violation of Indonesian law.
He called the suspension a preventive measure to mitigate potential risks to the public.
In addition to PT. Terang Bulan Abadi, PT. Sandina Abadi Nusantara, another local operator, will be summoned for clarification about the alleged violations.
The ministry said the operator had been running the World project under a permit registered to a different legal entity.
This suspension comes on the heels of World’s recent expansion announcement in the US, where the project plans to allow users to receive WLD tokens in exchange for verifying their identity and creating a World ID. The US launch will begin in six cities, including Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Miami.
World’s operations in other countries have also raised concerns about data privacy and user protection. The Block has reached out to World for further comment on the issue.
