DROP lets California consumers ask every registered data broker to delete their personal information in one request, rather than contacting each company on its own. The California Privacy Protection Agency runs the platform, which reaches more than 500 registered data brokers. Brokers check it for new requests every 45 days and must delete a consumer's data within 90 days.
Any California resident can submit a request, and an authorized representative can submit for someone else, such as a parent for a child. The service is free, and requests go through the state's DROP portal at privacy.ca.gov/drop:
- Confirm California residency through the California Identity Gateway. DROP does not retain that information.
- Create a profile with basic personal details. A consumer chooses how much to provide.
- Submit one request. It reaches every registered data broker, more than 500 of them.
DROP uses the details only to complete the request, and does not sell or share them. A broker then deletes the matched data within 90 days and keeps checking for new requests every 45 days, so the consumer is not added back.
DROP comes from California's Delete Act of 2023, which built on the 2018 California Consumer Privacy Act. A right to have personal data deleted also exists under the European Union's GDPR, where it is called the right to erasure, or the right to be forgotten, and under the comprehensive consumer privacy laws now enacted in about twenty states.
DROP is the first platform of its kind, and what sets it apart is its reach. One request covers every registered broker at once. The other laws grant a similar deletion right but require consumers to contact each company individually.
This page does not constitute legal advice.