• by Wendy Davis  @wendyndavis, March 11, 2025

California Attorney General Rob Bonta has told ad companies and others that their practices regarding the collection and use of consumers' geolocation data may violate California's privacy law.

“The risk posed by the widespread collection and sale of location data has become immediately and particularly relevant given federal threats to California's immigrant communities, and to reproductive and gender-affirming healthcare,” Bonta's office stated Monday.

The office added that it has requested additional information from ad companies, app developers and data brokers that “appear to be in violation” of the California Consumer Privacy Act, which restricts businesses' ability to harness state residents' location data.

Andrew Folks, an attorney with Frankfurt Kurnit Klein & Selz, notes that Bonta's move comes just weeks after Deputy Attorney General Stacey Schesser told a California bar group that the office was focused on risks to consumers posed by location data practices.

Bonta's office refused to disclose how many companies it contacted regarding location data, telling MediaPost that this information was “part of the investigative files of the Attorney General.”

California's privacy law gives state residents the right to tell businesses to limit their use of “sensitive” data -- including geolocation data. The law also enables California residents to opt out of selling or sharing their personal information.

A state lawmaker recently proposed legislation that would tighten restrictions regarding location data. That bill (AB 1355) would prohibit businesses from collecting location data from consumers unless the information was necessary to provide goods or services, and the consumers expressly consented.

The measure would also make it illegal to “sell, rent, trade, or lease” location data to third parties, among other prohibitions.

Bonta's letters regarding location data are the latest in a series of enforcement measures taken by the state attorney general. Last year, for instance, his office warned developers of streaming apps and sellers of streaming devices that they must allow residents to easily opt out of the use of their data for advertising purposes.