When you make a purchase through PayPal, your name, address, phone number, email, and account details are shared with merchants, their service providers, and others in the payment network.
Consumer impact (what this means for users)
Every PayPal transaction results in your personal information being shared with merchants and their service providers, who are governed by their own privacy policies rather than PayPal's, potentially exposing your data to secondary uses you have not agreed to.
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
Log in to PayPal, go to Settings > Privacy, and review your data sharing preferences. California residents can exercise their CCPA opt-out rights through the privacy settings page.
Cross-platform context
See how other platforms handle Broad Data Sharing with Partners, Merchants, and Data Brokers and similar clauses.
Your personal and financial data flows to a large number of third parties — not just the merchant you're buying from, but their service providers and others — and once shared, PayPal's privacy policy no longer governs how that data is used.
View original clause language
We may disclose Personal Information with these parties involved in a transaction such as your user name, address, phone number, email address to enable the purchase and delivery of the goods in the transaction. For example, when you use the Services to initiate online purchases, save your payment information with Fastlane, pay other Users using the Services, pay recipients using Visa+, return goods, or when you participate in transactions through the payment network, we may disclose information about you and your account or Fastlane profile with the other parties (or their service providers) involved in processing your transactions.
1. REGULATORY FRAMEWORK: This provision engages CCPA/CPRA §1798.115 (right to know third parties with whom data is shared), GLBA §6802 (restrictions on financial data disclosure), GDPR Art. 13 (transparency about recipients of personal data), and FTC Act Section 5 (unfair or deceptive practices regarding data sharing). The CFPB has oversight of financial data sharing practices under GLBA and the Dodd-Frank Act.
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Compliance intelligence locked
Regulatory citations, enforcement risk, and due diligence action items.
Watcher: regulatory citations. Professional: full compliance memo.
Applicable agencies
CFPB
The CFPB oversees financial data sharing practices under GLBA and has authority over unfair or deceptive practices by payment processors affecting consumer financial data.