Governor Newsom signs data privacy bills to protect tech users

What you need to know: Governor Newsom signed AB 656, which requires social media companies to make it clear and easy for a user to delete their account - and requires that deletion also trigger full deletion of the user's personal data. This law builds on the administration's prior work to protect consumers and their privacy.

SACRAMENTO - Today, as San Francisco Tech Week 2025 continues, Governor Gavin Newsom signed AB 656 by Assemblymember Pilar Schiavo (D-Santa Clarita), requiring social media companies to make canceling an account straightforward and clear - and ensuring that cancellation triggers full deletion of the user's personal data. The Governor also signed additional laws to help strengthen California's landmark privacy protections and ensure that consumers have transparent and fair ways to control their own data.

"It shouldn't be hard to delete social media accounts, and it shouldn't be even harder to take back control of personal data. With these bills, social media users can be assured that when they delete their accounts, they do not leave their data behind."

Governor Gavin Newsom

"Social media users deserve to have the confidence that they can easily delete their account and when they do that their personal information is deleted too," said Assemblymember Pilar Schiavo. "I'm grateful that with the signing of AB 656, California is putting consumers first."

These laws build on the Governor's prior work to protect consumers and their privacy. That includes last year's Click to Cancel bill, AB 2863 by Assemblymember Schiavo, that made it easier to cancel subscriptions, and 2023's SB 362 by Senator Josh Becker, the DELETE Act, which, beginning in August 2026, will allow Californians to delete all of their data held by data brokers through a single interface.

Giving consumers more control of their data

Governor Newsom also signed two additional bills to help consumers maintain better control of their data:

• SB 361 by Senator Josh Becker, which strengthens the Data Broker Registration Law by providing consumers with more information about the personal information collected by data brokers and who may have access to consumers' data.
• AB 566 by Assemblymember Josh Lowenthal, which helps consumers exercise their opt-out rights under the California Consumer Privacy Act by requiring browsers to include a setting to send websites an opt-out preference signal to enable Californians to opt out of third-party sales of their data at one time instead of on each individual website.

Strengthening consumer protection

Other consumer protection bills signed this year include legislation to strengthen the authority of the Department of Financial Protection and Innovation, thereby helping fill the void left by the Trump administration's weakening of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau; to protect car buyers from being sold unnecessary add-ons; and to ensure state antitrust law can address pricing algorithms, among other laws to keep services and products affordable and fair.

In November 2020, voters approved the California Privacy Rights Act that added new privacy protections to the California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018, and established a new agency, the California Privacy Protection Agency (CPPA), to implement and enforce the laws.