Ad industry tries to quash proposed data broker regulations

The advertising industry has kicked off a campaign to kill a California bill that would make it easier for residents to request that data brokers delete their personal information.

A person who works in the California Legislature told POLITICO that multiple lawmakers received printouts credited to the Association of National Advertisers this week titled “10 Reasons SB 362 Will Harm California” and “Negative Real-World Impacts of California SB 362.” The handouts warned that allowing people to delete their data en masse would hurt the government’s ability to prevent fraud and prevent hospitals from providing services.

The person, who also received these documents and was granted anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the matter on the record, said at least one legislator received the documents in an email Monday.

The email came from a representative at Interpublic Group, an advertising company that owns the data broker Acxiom. That message sought to set up a meeting with lawmakers to discuss the legislation.

That email contained a link to a call to action website titled “No to SB 362” and a digital version of the ANA documents. That campaign has no attribution noting who is behind it. But the language in the email and the documents attributed to ANA, which were all obtained by POLITICO, and the webpage are nearly identical. The ANA, which includes Amazon, Google and Meta, did not respond to a request for comment.

The materials highlight concerns about the bill’s unintended consequences and urge legislators to work with companies to reduce the bill’s “harmful effects.” The webpage, first registered last week according to online records, also urges visitors to contact the bill’s author, Sen. Josh Becker, and oppose the legislation. The campaign also includes a contact list for the 16 members of the California Assembly Appropriations Committee, which held a hearing on the bill Wednesday morning in Sacramento.

“It is critical that members of the Assembly Appropriations Committee hear about the damaging impact of this bill,” the website said.

Democratic Assemblymembers Akilah Weber and Wendy Carrillo, who are both on the Appropriations Committee, told POLITICO they did not receive any of the No to SB 362 material. Other members of the committee didn’t respond to requests for comment.

The committee voted to move the bill to “suspense,” meaning that it is still pending approval to move for an Assembly floor vote.

Acxiom’s CEO Chad Engelgau posted a link to the No to SB 362 website on his LinkedIn, and said in a follow-up post that neither Acxiom or Interpublic Group own the website or created it.

Interpublic Group spokesperson Thomas Cunningham said the company is not involved with the campaign or website. Acxiom spokesperson Erin Tomaski said Engelgau posted the website link because it aligned with his perspective on privacy regulations.

“Chad shared the website on his personal LinkedIn profile as part of his long-held advocacy for a national data privacy law. As stated in his LinkedIn post, Chad believes SB 362 is flawed legislation and that more state-level laws are not the answer as they impact all businesses, large and small, nationwide,” Tomaski said in a statement.

A new front in the fight for data privacy: CA SB362 (23R), also known as the Delete Act, would allow California residents to make a single request to delete their data that goes to multiple companies. Under California’s current data privacy laws, residents must contact companies like data brokers individually to make such requests.

The California bill would be the first in the nation to provide this capability if it becomes law. While some privacy laws have similar elements, like a universal opt-out allowing people to block trackers with a single click, there are no regulations requiring universal data deletion.

A federal version of the bill was introduced in 2022, but the proposed legislation never made it out of its Senate committee.