California AG Announces CCPA Enforcement Sweep Aimed at Mobile Apps and Authorized Agent Requests

On January 27, 2023, California Attorney General Rob Bonta announced a new enforcement sweep aimed at businesses with mobile apps and other businesses that fail to comply with the California Consumer Privacy Act (“CCPA”).

The sweep focused on popular apps in the retail, travel and food service industries that allegedly fail to comply with, or do not provide a mechanism for, consumers’ requests to opt out of the sale of their personal information. The sweep also targets businesses that allegedly fail to comply with requests submitted by consumers’ authorized agents, including those submitted via Permission Slip, a mobile app developed by Consumer Reports that enables consumers to send requests to opt out of the sale of or delete their personal information.

Attorney General Bonta highlighted “the wide array of sensitive information that […] apps can access from our phones and other mobile devices,” and urged the development and adoption of “user-enabled global privacy controls for mobile operating systems that allow consumers to stop apps from selling their data.”