California Attorney General on Oct. 29 announced a settlement with Lyft resolving allegations that the company violated the California Consumer Privacy Act and the state's Unfair Competition Law by not letting users opt out of the sale of their personal information within its mobile app. The settlement includes $1.8 million in civil penalties.
The settlement stems from a March 2025 investigative sweep into how companies use geolocation data, the attorney general's office said. Since mid-2023, Lyft has sold or shared consumers' personal information to target and display ads inside its app without an in-app opt-out, the office said. The only way to opt out was to follow a series of links from the in-app privacy policy to Lyft's “Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information” webpage, and users who were already logged in had to re-enter their login and submit more personal information, which the office called an illegal and unnecessary barrier.
Riders and drivers must download the app and create an account to use Lyft, which collects names, email addresses or phone numbers, IP addresses and non-precise geolocation such as city, state, region or ZIP code, according to the office.
Bonta said Lyft, “a company that offers its services exclusively through an app,” was “selling and sharing user’s personal information for targeted advertising without giving users a way to opt-out from within that app.” He added, “Under California’s nation-leading privacy law, consumers have the right to say no to the sale and sharing of their data, and businesses cannot throw up unnecessary roadblocks.”
It is the California Department of Justice's ninth enforcement action under the CCPA, following settlements with General Motors, Sephora, DoorDash, Disney, Jam City, Sling TV, Healthline.com and Tilting Point Media, the office said.
Under the settlement, Lyft must provide an in-app opt-out option and notify California consumers of their right to not have their personal information sold. Consumers can report suspected CCPA violations at oag.ca.gov/report, and Californians can ask more than 575 registered data brokers to delete their data with one request through CalPrivacy's Delete Request and Opt-out Platform at privacy.ca.gov/drop.
State
Rob Bonta
Attorney General · Democrat
Named 2 times in this story.
Portrait: Official portrait
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