On May 1, 2025, the California Privacy Protection Agency (CPPA) issued a Final Order in one of its first public enforcement actions under the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), imposing a fine of nearly $350,000 on the business.
An important take away from the Final Order: simply posting a privacy policy is not enough. Businesses must actively monitor, test, and verify that the tools supporting consumer rights are working — even when those tools are managed by third parties.
What Went Wrong?
The CPPA found multiple violations of the CCPA and its implementing regulations. Here are the most notable failures:
1. Non-Functioning "Cookie Preferences Center" Link
Like many retailers, the business used third party tracking software on its website, such as cookies and pixels, to share data about consumers online behavior (a category of personal information) with third parties. The business shared this data for purposes such as analytics and cross-context behavioral advertising. While the business told consumers they could opt out of the sharing of their personal information, the technical infrastructure of their website did not support elections by consumers to do so. In short, opt-out elections simply were not processed correctly for a period of time, 40 days.
According to the CPPA, the business
"would have known that Consumers could not exercise their CCPA right if the company had been monitoring its Website, but [the company] instead deferred to third-party privacy management tools without knowing their limitations or validating their operation."
2. Failure to Properly Identify Verifiable Requests and Overcollection of Verification Information
The business offered a webform to enable consumers to exercise several of their CCPA rights, including the right to opt-out of the selling or sharing of personal information. However, using the webform to exercise any of those rights required consumers to provide certain personal information, including a picture of the consumer holding an "identity document." This approach created two problems: (i) it resulted in the collection of sensitive personal information (e.g., a drivers license) to make the request, and (ii) it failed to distinguish requests to opt-out of the sale or sharing of personal information, which are not verifiable consumer requests. In short, according to the CPPA, the webform collected more personal information than necessary for verifiable consumer requests and failed to authenticate consumers in a compliant manner, ultimately leading to complaints from consumers.
Practical Takeaways
This case illustrates the kind of avoidable but costly missteps that any business could make. Conducting an annual review of CCPA compliance, as required under the law, is an obvious step to help ensure ongoing compliance. But here are some more specific items to consider as well:
- Test your links and forms regularly across devices and browsers. Don't assume that what's written in your privacy policy functions properly.
- Review webforms and verification procedures to ensure they correctly identify, route, and respond to verifiable consumer requests without collecting unnecessary personal data. Also, assess whether backend processes and training support procedures outlined in online privacy policies.
- Vet and monitor third-party vendors responsible for CCPA compliance tools. Require written assurances of compliance and retain the right to audit their systems and processes, while also checking to ensure the services provided are compliant.
- Document your due diligence and monitoring to illustrate a focus on compliance. Mistakes happen, but the business can mount a stronger defense to allegations of non-compliance when it can show an ongoing effort to achieve compliance.
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.
