This Tool Removes Your Information From Data Broker Sites (If You Live in One State).
There’s virtually no privacy online: data brokers collect tons of information about you and your online activity and sell it to anyone interested in marketing to you. Since the passage of the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) in 2018, California residents have gained more control over their personal data than residents of other states, and they now have a single mechanism to request removal of their information from the hundreds of data brokers registered in the state (and any that do so in the future).
California isn’t the only state to adopt stricter consumer privacy laws in recent years, but its DROP platform is the first of its kind. The tool is already live , though brokers won’t begin processing requests until August. Here’s what to do if you live in California, and several options for removing your information from data brokers if you don’t live in California.
How to register for a data deletion platform in California
To begin the DROP program , you must verify your California residency by verifying your personal information through the California Identity Gateway or logging in using Login.gov credentials. To participate in the program, you must either reside in California or have a permanent residence in the state, even if you are temporarily residing elsewhere. (This depends on your primary residence, your voter registration, and the state that issued your driver’s license.)
After this, you can create and submit a deletion request. You’ll need to provide some personal data, which will be used to match your request with records held by data brokers. Data types include name, date of birth, postal code, email address, phone numbers, mobile advertising identifiers (MAIDs), and vehicle identification numbers (VINs). You can enter multiple values for each parameter except date of birth and update your request later—for example, if you purchase a new car or change your email address.
While you can start submitting requests now, keep in mind that data brokers won’t actually begin processing them until August 2026, and from then on, deleting your data may take up to 90 days. If they find a match, they are required to delete all information they have about you, although there are some exceptions , such as data available through public registries or provided directly to the company.
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Once applications begin processing later this year, you will be able to track the status of your request on the DROP platform.
Alternative ways to delete your data
If you don’t live in California and qualify for the DROP program, all is not lost—although you will have to spend a little more time and/or money removing your information from data broker sites than simply performing a bulk deletion with a single request.
To opt out of data collection , download the donation-based Permission Slip app from Consumer Reports. It tracks where your data can be found and processes deletion requests. You can try opting out of data collection manually by finding data brokers and going directly to their websites, but this can be tedious, and there are a number of other paid services that will do this for you. (None of these are perfect or guarantee 100% success.)
We also have a guide to blocking companies from tracking your online activity , which can help mitigate the problem before it even starts.