January 29, 2026
California Gives Residents New Control Over Who Profits from Their Personal Data
Why it Matters: Data brokers quietly collect, combine, analyze, trade, and sell detailed personal information—often without a resident’s knowledge—creating risks for fraud, identity theft, and other damaging outcomes. California is drawing a clear line by giving residents the ability to tell data brokers they can no longer sell or share their personal data.
SACRAMENTO, Calif. – A landmark privacy law signed by Governor Gavin Newsom in 2023 took effect on January 1, 2026, giving Californians a new, practical way to protect their personal information. The California Delete Act creates a first-of-its-kind statewide system that makes it easier for residents to limit the sale and use of their data.
As of January 1, Californians can use the Delete Request and Opt-out Platform (DROP) to tell data brokers to stop selling their personal information. Instead of tracking down individual companies one by one, residents can submit a single request through DROP and automatically send it to hundreds of registered data brokers.
DROP is powered by a collaborative effort between the California Privacy Protection Agency (CalPrivacy) and the California Department of Technology (CDT). CalPrivacy provides policy direction and regulatory oversight to make sure the platform meets the intent of the Delete Act, while CDT designed and delivered the technology infrastructure to make DROP work at a statewide level.
“Privacy only works if people can trust the technology behind it,” said California State Chief Information Officer Liana Bailey-Crimmins. “Our promise was to deliver an easy-to-use and secure platform for all Californians to decide whether or not data brokers can use or sell their personal information—and that’s exactly what DROP does.”
CDT led the technical development of DROP’s digital infrastructure that includes identity verification and the secure transmission of requests. A key component is CDT’s California Identity Gateway, which verifies a resident’s identity before their request is sent to data brokers. That verification step is important to protect Californians from fraud and to ensure brokers know these are verified deletion and opt-out requests.
The California Identity Gateway isn’t unique to DROP. It also supports identity verification for other public-facing digital services, including transit. DROP benefits from technology already supporting identity verification across government—improving ease of use and security for Californians.
Californians can submit one verified deletion or opt-out request in DROP that will be transmitted directly to all registered data brokers. Under the Delete Act, data brokers are required to begin honoring and processing those deletion requests starting in August 2026, giving companies time to update systems and meet the new statewide standard.
Early adoption shows residents’ strong interest in taking control of their personal data. At the time of this writing, more than 155,000 Californians submitted deletion requests through the platform—an indicator of trust in the service and demand for stronger privacy protections.
As California continues to lead on digital rights and responsible technology, DROP sets a new benchmark for how government can marry policy with human-centered technology to deliver immediate results that benefit the public.
For more information about the Delete Act and how Californians can submit a deletion request, visit https://privacy.ca.gov/drop/.