Instacart · Instacart Privacy Policy

Information Retention

Medium severity
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What it is

Instacart keeps your personal data for as long as it needs to for business purposes, which may be longer than you would expect after you stop using the service.

Consumer impact (what this means for users)

Instacart does not specify precise retention periods for most data categories, meaning your shopping history, location data, and personal identifiers may be retained long after you stop using the service or delete your account.

What you can do

⚠️ These actions may provide transparency or partial mitigation but may not fully address the underlying issue. Effectiveness varies by jurisdiction and individual circumstances.
  • Delete Your Data
    Submit a data deletion request through Instacart's privacy portal at instacart.com/privacy by selecting 'Your Privacy Choices' and following the deletion request process.

Cross-platform context

See how other platforms handle Information Retention and similar clauses.

Compare across platforms →
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Why it matters (compliance & risk perspective)

Vague retention language means your personal data including purchase history, location data, and account information could be stored indefinitely without a clear deletion timeline, increasing the risk of data breach exposure and limiting your ability to have data erased.

View original clause language
Information Retention

Institutional analysis (Compliance & legal intelligence)

(1) REGULATORY FRAMEWORK: CPRA (Cal. Civ. Code §1798.100(a)(5)) requires businesses to disclose retention periods or criteria for each category of personal information collected. GDPR Art. 5(1)(e) requires storage limitation — data must not be kept longer than necessary for the stated purpose. PIPEDA Schedule 1, Principle 4.5 requires that personal information be retained only as long as necessary to fulfill identified purposes. Vague retention language may constitute a CPRA violation. (2)

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Applicable agencies

  • FTC
    The FTC has enforcement authority over unfair or deceptive data retention practices under Section 5 of the FTC Act, particularly when retention exceeds stated purposes or creates unnecessary data breach risk.
    File a complaint →
  • State AG
    The California Privacy Protection Agency enforces CPRA retention disclosure requirements (11 CCR §7022) and can investigate businesses that fail to publish specific retention periods per data category.
    File a complaint →

Provision details

Document information
Document
Instacart Privacy Policy
Entity
Instacart
Document last updated
April 29, 2026
Tracking information
First tracked
April 18, 2026
Last verified
April 18, 2026
Record ID
CA-P-002842
Document ID
CA-D-00136
Evidence Provenance
Source URL
Wayback Machine
SHA-256
1820e1895d1605ebc16eff3b8fdeb7771e97e65214aedd6a6e598e4b96e3cb08
Verified
✓ Snapshot stored   ✓ Change verified
How to Cite
ConductAtlas Policy Archive
Entity: Instacart | Document: Instacart Privacy Policy | Record: CA-P-002842
Captured: 2026-04-18 10:07:50 UTC | SHA-256: 1820e1895d1605eb…
URL: https://conductatlas.com/platform/instacart/instacart-privacy-policy/information-retention/
Accessed: May 2, 2026
Classification
Severity
Medium
Categories

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