$70,000 in Fines Issued to Data Brokers by California

Nov 18

2 min read

115

tl;dr -

2 lead-gen businesses - Growbots and UpLead agree to settle for ~$35,000 each
Both companies agreed to settle and pay the Enforcement's attorney fees
Announced only 14 days after CPPA announces Data Broker enforcement sweep

The California Privacy Protection Agency ("CPPA") announced its first settlement with 2 data brokers who failed to register with the CPPA by the Jan 31st, 2024 deadline.

Growbots.com is a prospecting software for lead generation who agreed to pay $35,400 for failing to register between February 1st, 2024 and July 21st, 2024.

UpLead.com is a B2B lead database business that agreed to pay $34,400 for failing to register between February 1st, 2024 and July 21, 2024.

In addition to the fines, both companies agreed to injunctive terms, including agreeing to pay the Enforcement Division’s attorney fees and costs resulting from any non-compliance.

Superset Tried to Help Growbots

We at Superset reached out to Growbots months ago warning them that their practices likely qualified them as a Data Broker. We take no pleasure in seeing businesses penalized when it can be avoided.

If you need help registering your business as a Data Broker, head to TrustSuperset.com for a quick and easy application process.

Current State of the CPPA Data Base

According to some conservative estimates there are over 5,000 Data Brokers world-wide. As of Nov 17th, 2024, the CPPA has 527 registered Data Brokers in their Database, meaning nearly 90% of Data Brokers remain unaccounted for.

Implications for international Data Brokers:

Growbots headquarters was in Poland, but they had a presence in San Francisco. This settlement supports the argument that businesses not based in the US, must comply with Data Broker Registrations as well.

It remains to be seen if this enforcement will be enough to get the remaining 4,500 to register. CPPA raising the annual registration fee for Data Brokers from $400/yr to $6,600/yr, a 1550% increase, could impact registration rates negatively.