Submit a complaint

How to protect your personal information

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Why submit a complaint

When businesses don’t obey consumer privacy laws that protect your personal information, you can let us know. The California Privacy Protection Agency’s Enforcement Division stands ready to act. CalPrivacy doesn’t represent individuals and can’t act as your own attorney, but complaints can help identify issues to focus on, targets for investigation, and patterns if businesses don’t follow the law. CalPrivacy welcomes you to submit complaints if you believe a business is violating your rights under the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA).  

How to submit

    1. Decide if you want to submit a complaint to CalPrivacy  

      If you think a business has violated your consumer privacy rights, you should submit a complaint to CalPrivacy. You can submit a complaint online. You can also submit complaints about a service provider, third party, or contractor. If you have concerns about something other than consumer privacy, go to our Additional protections page for help.  

    2. Describe what happened 

      Write clear details about what happened: dates, business name, what they did, and which CCPA rights were violated. You can also describe screenshots, emails, or other proof you may have to support your complaint. 

    3. Submit the complaint

      You can choose whether or not to provide your contact information when submitting a complaint. If you don’t provide contact information, CalPrivacy won’t be able to follow up with you to ask for more details. 

Tips for submitting complaints

A helpful complaint gives clear details to help CalPrivacy understand what happened. It should answer these questions: 

Are you a California resident?
The CCPA protects California residents. 

Who is the complaint about? 
Name the business or group that you think violated your privacy rights. 

What privacy right was violated, and how? 
Explain what you think the business did wrong. 

When did it happen? 
Give the date the problem occurred.  

Do you have proof? 
You can tell us about emails, screenshots, or anything else that supports your complaint, if you have them. You can also name people who can support your claims. 

Sworn vs. unsworn complaints

You can send a sworn or unsworn complaint to CalPrivacy. Unsworn complaints can be sent without giving your name. When you submit a sworn complaint, you are promising that what you are saying is true, under penalty of perjury.  

Sworn complaints must include: 

  • The name of the business or person you’re complaining about.
  • A clear explanation of what you believe they did wrong. 
  • A description of any proof you have, like documents or emails.  
  • Permission for CalPrivacy to talk to the business about your complaint. 
  • Your name and contact information.

What happens next

CalPrivacy staff reads and reviews all complaints. Although CalPrivacy is not required to take action on your complaint, it may choose to do so.

In response to your complaint, CalPrivacy may: 

  • Contact you for more information or evidence. 
  • Contact the business, contractor, third-party, service provider, or person involved in the complaint. 
  • Start an inquiry. 
  • Start an investigation. 
  • Conduct an audit. 
  • Use the information provided to inform CalPrivacy’s work. 
  • Refer your complaint to a different agency (for example, the California Department of Justice). 
  • Bring an enforcement action.