What Online Businesses Should Know About the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA)
Updated February 6, 2026Data privacy is no longer a niche regulatory issue—it is a core legal and commercial risk for companies operating online. One of the most influential U.S. privacy statutes is the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), which significantly expanded consumer rights and imposed new compliance duties on businesses handling personal information. Since taking effect in 2020—and later strengthened by the California Privacy Rights Act (CPRA)—the law has become a national benchmark for data protection standards in the United States. Understanding how the CCPA works is essential for: online businesses, creative platforms, marketing agencies, SaaS companies, and any organization collecting consumer data.
What Is the CCPA?
In the United States, there is still no single, comprehensive federal data-privacy statute that applies across all industries. Instead, federal privacy regulation has traditionally developed in sector-specific frameworks, such as:
HIPAA for healthcare privacy
GLBA for financial institutions
FERPA for educational records
At the state level, modern consumer-privacy legislation began accelerating around 2018, with laws such as:
Illinois’ Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA)
Florida’s Information Protection Act (FIPA)
California then enacted the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) on June 28, 2018, which became effective January 1, 2020. The statute—codified at Cal. Civ. Code § 1798.100 et seq.—is widely recognized as the first broad consumer-privacy law in the United States. The CCPA grants California residents several important rights over their personal information, including the ability to:
Request disclosure of what data is collected, its sources, purposes, and third-party sharing
Request deletion of personal information
Opt out of the sale or sharing of personal data
These rights were later expanded and strengthened by the California Privacy Rights Act (CPRA), effective 2023, which created the California Privacy Protection Agency (CPPA) and introduced new protections for sensitive personal information.
What Information Is Protected?
The statute’s core purpose is to safeguard California consumers’ control over their personal data. Under the law, “personal information” includes any data that: “Identifies, relates to, describes, or could reasonably be linked—directly or indirectly—to a particular consumer or household.”
Examples include:
First and last name
Biometric identifiers
Internet browsing or usage activity
Precise geolocation data
Email address
Social Security number
Purchasing or consumption history
Household-level data
Importantly, publicly available government records are excluded from this definition.
Who Must Comply With the Law?
The CCPA applies to for-profit businesses doing business in California that meet at least one of the following thresholds:
Annual gross revenue exceeding $25 million.
Buying, selling, or sharing personal data of 100,000 or more consumers or households.
Deriving 50% or more of annual revenue from selling or sharing personal information.
The law also reaches out-of-state companies if they:
Operate for profit
Conduct business involving California residents
Collect or process their personal data
What Rights Do Consumers Receive?
California consumers are granted a bundle of enforceable privacy rights, including:
Right to know and access the categories and specific pieces of personal data collected
Right to deletion of personal information, subject to statutory exceptions
Right to opt out of the sale or sharing of personal data
Right to notice of financial incentives tied to data collection
Right to private legal action for certain data breaches
Right to a clear “Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information” mechanism
Additional CPRA rights now include:
Right to correct inaccurate data
Right to limit use of sensitive personal information
How Can Organizations Achieve Compliance?
From an operational standpoint, CCPA compliance generally falls into four primary areas:
1. Privacy Notices
Businesses must provide clear, conspicuous disclosures explaining:
What data is collected
Why it is used
How consumers may exercise their rights
This often includes visible opt-out links and updated website privacy policies.
2. Data Mapping
Similar to obligations under the EU’s GDPR, organizations should:
Identify systems processing consumer data
Track data flows across the lifecycle
Collection
Processing
Storage
Sharing
Deletion
3. Contracts and Vendors
Companies must evaluate:
Categories of personal data shared with third parties
Vendor agreements and service-provider terms
Breach-notification and data-use restrictions
Updated contractual language is often essential for statutory compliance.
4. Consumer Request Management
Organizations must implement mechanisms to:
Receive and verify consumer requests
Respond within 45 days
(Cal. Civ. Code § 1798.130)
Common solutions include:
Toll-free numbers
Dedicated privacy web portals
What Are the Risks of Non-Compliance?
Loss of Business Relationships - Companies subject to privacy laws may refuse to partner with non-compliant vendors or service providers.
Private Lawsuits - Consumers may bring civil actions for certain data-security breaches, seeking: $100 to $750 per consumer per incident, or; actual damages, injunctive relief, and other remedies.
Government Enforcement and Fines - Regulators—including the California Attorney General and CPPA—may pursue enforcement actions.
Civil penalties can reach: $2,500 per violation, or $7,500 per intentional violation or violations involving minors. Businesses typically receive notice and an opportunity to cure, but unresolved violations may still lead to substantial financial liability.
MORE RESOURCES FOR YOU👇👇👇
📚 For more articles on digital media, Visit our Blog.
🔎 To learn how we can support your online business, Visit our Business Page.
🧠 If you have questions and would like personalized advice from us, Schedule a Video Consultation.
🖋️ For general inquiries and questions, Contact Us.
⚖️ If you’d like to learn more about Starving Artists, Visit our Main Page.
*This article is provided for informational purposes only, and does not constitute legal advice, counsel or representation.
