How to remove your personal data in California
Residents of California have a deletion right under the California Consumer Privacy Act, as amended by the CPRA. California also runs a free state platform, DROP, where one request reaches every registered data broker. It is the fastest and strongest option available to anyone in the United States.
What to do first
Submit a DROP request. It costs nothing, and it is the only mechanism with a suppression obligation behind it, which is what actually stops data reappearing. How it works.
Then deal with what a privacy law does not reach: professional profile sites, search results, and what an AI model says when someone asks about you. What that covers.
Common questions
- Do I have a right to have my data deleted in California?
- Yes. the California Consumer Privacy Act, as amended by the CPRA gives residents of California a right to request deletion of personal data held about them, and to opt out of its sale.
- Is there a faster way than contacting brokers one at a time?
- Yes, and it is free. California runs DROP, a state platform where one authenticated request reaches every registered data broker. Since 1 August 2026 they must check it at least every 45 days, act within 90, and keep a suppression list so the data is not re-collected. On 2026-08-25 we found 398 of the 503 sources we track were registered and therefore covered.
- How long do they have to respond?
- Generally 45 days under a US state privacy law, often extendable once. A request that has passed its deadline without a substantive answer is worth escalating to the state attorney general or privacy regulator.
- Can someone else send these requests for me?
- Yes. These laws recognise an authorised agent acting on your behalf with your permission. That is what Cartograph does: you sign an authorisation, and every request cites the California Consumer Privacy Act, as amended by the CPRA by name rather than waving at privacy law generally.
- What is not covered?
- A state privacy law reaches businesses that meet its thresholds. It does not reach news archives, court records, or an AI model's training data. Removing the web pages a model reads is a separate job, and a necessary one, because current models answer by searching the web at the moment they are asked.
General information, not legal advice. If the law in California has changed, tell us at support@usecartograph.com and we will correct it and date the change.