How to file a California DROP request
If you live in California you have the strongest deletion right in the country and it is almost unadvertised. DROP is a single request that every registered broker is legally required to process. It is free.
- Difficulty
- Easy
- Time
- 10 minutes
- Cost
- Free
- Steps
- 5
Rather not do it yourself?
We do all of this, prove each step with timestamped evidence, and keep checking every 45 days because it comes back.
The steps
Do these in order
- 01Confirm you are a California residentDROP is available to California residents. The obligation on brokers runs to Californians who file.
- 02Go to the CPPA platformdatabroker.drop.privacy.ca.gov, operated by the California Privacy Protection Agency. It is a government platform, not a commercial service.
- 03Create an account and verify your identityVerification is required, and rightly so — an unverified deletion platform could be used against people rather than for them.
- 04Submit your deletion requestYour request enters the queue every registered broker must check at least every 45 days. Since 1 August 2026 processing has been mandatory rather than optional.
- 05Then verify that it actually workedThis is the part DROP does not do. Re-search yourself in 45 and 90 days. A broker that ignores the platform is exposed to enforcement, but only if someone notices.
What goes wrong
- DROP only reaches brokers registered in California. Unregistered sites are not covered, and some significant people-search sites are not in the registry.
- It does not verify compliance, so a filing alone is not evidence of removal.
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