Cal. Civ. Code §§ 1798.99.80 et seq. (Delete Act)
The Delete Act and the DROP deletion platform
In plain English
The Delete Act created a registration regime for data brokers and the Delete Request and Opt-out Platform (DROP), a state-run mechanism that lets an eligible California resident direct all registered data brokers to delete their personal information with a single request. DROP is free.
Relevant provisions
- Delete Act range — data-broker registration and the single-request deletion mechanism (DROP)
- Registration duty — data brokers register with CalPrivacy annually in January
- Processing duty — brokers process DROP requests and re-check for new data on a recurring basis
Applicability and limits
DROP is for California residents and covers registered data brokers active in DROP. Some information is out of scope (for example first-party data given directly to a business, exempt data, and publicly available data). Coverage is not the same as a guaranteed deletion of every record everywhere.
The Delete Act is enforced through CalPrivacy’s decisions, several of which are catalogued in the Insights section as case studies.
Official source
- Cal. Civ. Code §§ 1798.99.80 et seq. (Delete Act) ↗Primary authorityhttps://privacy.ca.gov/drop/how-drop-works/
Verification: DROP mechanics verified directly from the official privacy.ca.gov "How DROP works" page on 2026-11-10. The exact statutory subsection imposing the recurring re-check obligation was NOT individually verified in this environment; the range citation is given instead of a single section.
Related authorities
- Right to delete personal information (CCPA) — Cal. Civ. Code § 1798.105