Californians are flooding a state program to help them avoid spam

In January, California launched a program making it easier for residents to wipe their personal data from the internet. After eight months, residents have overwhelmingly bought in.

The California Privacy Protection Agency announced Tuesday that more than half a million Californians have registered for the Delete Request and Opt-out Platform. Known better as DROP, the program facilitates what would normally be a painstaking process of residents making individual requests to hundreds of data brokers asking them to delete their data. 

The platform takes minutes to sign up for. Users must confirm California residency and give basic information, which the state does not save. And though it’s similar to a paid service like DeleteMe, which starts at $8.71 a month for one person, DROP is free to use. 

Deleting personal data from brokers’ hands can not only help shield residents from annoying spam calls and texts but also decrease their risk of being a victim of cybercrime.

The California state Legislature passed Senate Bill 362, known as the Delete Act, in 2023, mandating the creation of the program and requiring data brokers to start processing deletion requests on Aug. 1. The bill expanded previous state law requiring data brokers to register with the state attorney general.

The state has built a registry of 654 data brokers, though only 25% have reportedly begun processing requests, according to the California Privacy Protection Agency. However, the agency reported that 99.9% of registrants have had data deleted by at least one broker, with the average registrant’s data deleted by over 40 brokers.

“The Delete Act is working exactly as intended by giving Californians real control over their personal information and holding data brokers accountable,” said Menlo Park state Sen. Josh Becker, author of the Delete Act, in the Tuesday statement. “With over 500,000 Californians now registered for DROP, deletion requests underway, and enforcement kicking in against companies that violate our privacy laws, we’re showing the nation what meaningful consumer privacy protection looks like.”