(a) A consumer shall have the right to request that a business delete any personal information about the consumer which the business has collected from the consumer.
(b) A business that collects personal information about consumers shall disclose, pursuant to Section 1798.130, the consumer’s rights to request the deletion of the consumer’s personal information.
(c) A business that receives a verifiable consumer request from a consumer to delete the consumer’s personal information pursuant to subdivision (a) of this section shall delete the consumer’s personal information from its records and direct any service providers to delete the consumer’s personal information from their records.
(d) A business or a service provider shall not be required to comply with a consumer’s request to delete the consumer’s personal information if it is necessary for the business or service provider to maintain the consumer’s personal information in order to:
(1) Complete the transaction for which the personal information was collected, fulfill the terms of a written warranty or product recall conducted in accordance with federal law, provide a good or service requested by the consumer, or reasonably anticipated within the context of a business’ ongoing business relationship with the consumer, or otherwise perform a contract between the business and the consumer.
(2) Detect security incidents, protect against malicious, deceptive, fraudulent, or illegal activity; or prosecute those responsible for that activity.
(3) Debug to identify and repair errors that impair existing intended functionality.
(4) Exercise free speech, ensure the right of another consumer to exercise that consumer’s right of free speech, or exercise another right provided for by law.
(5) Comply with the California Electronic Communications Privacy Act pursuant to Chapter 3.6 (commencing with Section 1546) of Title 12 of Part 2 of the Penal Code.
(6) Engage in public or peer-reviewed scientific, historical, or statistical research in the public interest that adheres to all other applicable ethics and privacy laws, when the business’ deletion of the information is likely to render impossible or seriously impair the achievement of such research, if the consumer has provided informed consent.
(7) To enable solely internal uses that are reasonably aligned with the expectations of the consumer based on the consumer’s relationship with the business.
(8) Comply with a legal obligation.
(9) Otherwise use the consumer’s personal information, internally, in a lawful manner that is compatible with the context in which the consumer provided the information.
(Amended by Stats. 2019, Ch. 751, Sec. 1. (AB 1146) Effective January 1, 2020. Superseded on January 1, 2023; see amendment by Proposition 24.)