California Launches Privacy Tool Aimed at Blocking Sale of Personal Data

WASHINGTON, Jan. 22, 2026 – California has launched a privacy platform allowing residents to request that data brokers delete their personal information and stop selling it, under a law signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom in 2023. 

The Delete Request and Opt-out Platform, known as DROP, enables Californians to submit a single deletion request that is transmitted to more than 500 registered data brokers. 

The tool was created under the Internet Application Integrity and Disclosure framework established by the Delete Act, or SB 362, which requires data brokers to comply with consumer deletion requests beginning Aug. 1, 2026.

“Your data should belong to you,” Newsom, a Democrat, said in a statement, calling DROP a simple way for consumers to regain control over personal information that is routinely collected, combined, and sold without their direct knowledge.

DROP is operated by the California Privacy Protection Agency in partnership with the California Department of Technology. The platform verifies a user’s California residency and allows them to request deletion without contacting the individual brokers one by one, a process privacy officials said previously made enforcement impractical. 

“With the launch of DROP, California is once again setting the national standard for consumer privacy,” said Senator Josh Becker, author of the Delete Act. “DROP is a game changer for consumer privacy,” said Tom Kemp, executive director of CalPrivacy. “It gives people a straightforward way to take control of their personal information.”

Under the Delete Act, data brokers must process deletion requests within 90 days and repeat deletions every 45 days going forward. The law also authorizes enforcement by the state if companies fail to comply.

State officials said more than 155,000 Californians have already used the platform since it launched Jan. 1.