On the heels of passing a sweeping AI consumer safety law, California Governor Gavin Newsom has enacted multiple privacy laws, including one that makes it “clear and easy” to delete social media accounts. Another expands 2018’s California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), requiring web browsers to include one-click methods to universally opt-out of allowing third-parties to sell personal data. Previously, Californians had to opt out of data sharing by filing requests one site at a time. Effective 2027, browsers such as Chrome, Edge, Firefox and Safari will be required to have a single setting that lets consumers opt out of all data brokering.

“It shouldn’t be hard to delete social media accounts, and it shouldn’t be even harder to take back control of personal data,” Newsom said in a news release. “With these bills, social media users can be assured that when they delete their accounts, they do not leave their data behind.”

The main provision, called the California Opt Me Out Act, bolsters the CCPA, which became law in 2020, writes CNET, noting that “the act originally allowed Internet consumers to opt out of having their data sold to third parties, but major web browsers did not make that process simple: consumers would either have to install third-party browser extensions or else instruct every single website they visited not to sell their data.”

The new enhancement “moves privacy control from individual users to companies that have the resources and technology to manage it effectively,” privacy activist Debbie Reynolds tells CNET, adding that the new provision “will force companies to redesign their data systems, which were never built to manage a universal opt-out signal.” In light of that, adoption and enforcement will be key, Reynolds says.

The social media cancellation law, AB 656, requires social platforms to make account cancelation straightforward and triggers complete deletion of all personal data with the deletion request.

A third law, SB 361, “boosts the Data Broker Registration Law (Delete Act) signed into law in October 2023 by giving consumers more information about which personal information is collected by data brokers and who else might have it,” Engadget reports.