White House withdraws plan to stop data brokers from selling Americans' personal information

The US government had been working on a plan to prevent data brokers from selling Americans' personal information since December 2024. However, it has now been revealed that the plan has been scrapped.

Federal Register :: Public Inspection: Protecting Americans from Harmful Data Broker Practices (Regulation V); Withdrawal

https://techcrunch.com/2025/05/14/white-house-scraps-plan-to-block-data-brokers-from-selling-americans-sensitive-data/

In December 2024, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced a plan to close loopholes in the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), a federal law that protects Americans' personal information collected by consumer credit reporting agencies such as credit bureaus and rental agencies. The new plan requires data brokers to obtain individuals' consent before selling or sharing sensitive personal information, including financial data.

Consumer Financial Protection Bureau proposes limiting data brokers from selling personal and financial information - GIGAZINE

However, information published in the Federal Register on May 15, 2025 revealed that the CFPB's plan was withdrawn in the early hours of May 13. Russell Vought, Director of the White House Office of Management and Budget and Acting Director of the CFPB, explained that the decision was 'inconsistent with the CFPB's current interpretation of the FCRA.'

Data brokers make profits by collecting and selling vast amounts of personal and financial information about Americans, and the market size is in the hundreds of billions of yen. Much of the personal information sold by data brokers is sold to corporations, law enforcement agencies, and intelligence agencies without the explicit permission of the individuals.

In 2024 alone, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) banned several data brokers from collecting and sharing personal information without people's permission , following allegations that they were illegally tracking people.

Privacy advocates have long called for the government to use the FCRA to rein in data brokers.

The Financial Technology Association, an industry lobbying group representing non-bank fintech companies, had called on Vought to repeal the CFPB's data broker restrictions, arguing that they would 'harm financial institutions' efforts to detect and prevent fraud.'