Whatnot shares your personal data with advertising companies to show you targeted ads, and this sharing may count as a 'sale' under California law, giving California residents the right to opt out.
This analysis describes what Whatnot's agreement states, permits, or reserves. It does not constitute a legal determination about enforceability. Regulatory applicability and practical outcomes may vary by jurisdiction, enforcement context, and individual circumstances. Read our methodology
This provision means your browsing and purchase data on Whatnot may be used by outside advertising companies to track and target you across the internet, not just on Whatnot.
Interpretive note: The scope of 'sharing' and whether all advertising partner data flows constitute a CCPA-covered 'sale' or 'sharing' depends on the technical implementation and contractual arrangements, which are not fully detailed in the policy.
Your behavioral data, including purchase history and browsing patterns on Whatnot, may be shared with third-party advertisers, potentially enabling cross-platform tracking and profiling. California residents have an explicit opt-out right that other users may not have.
How other platforms handle this
We share personal information with third-party advertising and marketing partners, and with social media companies, to provide you with targeted ads, promotions, and offers both on and off our platforms. Under California law, some of these disclosures may constitute a 'sale' or 'sharing' of personal...
We share information with third parties who help us operate our business, including to assist us with marketing campaigns, advertising, analytics and research. These service providers are given access to your information as reasonably necessary to perform these tasks on our behalf and are obligated ...
We may share your personal information with third-party vendors and service providers that perform services on our behalf, such as web hosting, email delivery, analytics, marketing, advertising, payment processing, customer support, and data enrichment services. We may share your information with ad...
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"We may share your personal information with third-party advertising partners to provide you with advertisements we believe you may find of interest. We do not control these third parties' tracking technologies or how they may be used. If you have questions about an advertisement or other targeted content, you should contact the responsible provider directly. California residents may opt-out of the 'sale' or 'sharing' of their personal information by clicking the 'Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information' link.— Excerpt from Whatnot's Whatnot Privacy Policy
REGULATORY LANDSCAPE: This provision directly engages the CCPA as amended by the CPRA, which defines 'sale' and 'sharing' of personal information broadly to include disclosure for cross-context behavioral advertising. The California Privacy Protection Agency and California AG are the primary enforcement authorities. The provision's acknowledgment that sharing may constitute a 'sale' under California law is a material disclosure triggering opt-out infrastructure and annual data inventory obligations. GDPR Article 6 lawful basis requirements and the ePrivacy Directive may also apply to EU/UK users in the context of advertising cookies and tracking. GOVERNANCE EXPOSURE: High. The explicit acknowledgment that data sharing with advertising partners may constitute a 'sale' or 'sharing' under California law creates direct CPRA compliance obligations, including maintaining a functional opt-out mechanism, updating the privacy policy annually, and ensuring advertising partner contracts include appropriate restrictions on downstream data use. JURISDICTION FLAGS: California creates the highest exposure given CPRA enforcement. EU and UK users are protected by GDPR and UK GDPR consent requirements for behavioral advertising cookies. Virginia, Colorado, Connecticut, and other US states with comprehensive privacy laws may impose similar opt-out obligations. The provision's global application is not clearly delineated. CONTRACT AND VENDOR IMPLICATIONS: Procurement teams should verify that all advertising and data broker partners have executed data processing agreements or service provider agreements that include CPRA-compliant restrictions on downstream use, resale, and retention. Contracts should be audited to confirm partners are not retaining or using data beyond the stated purpose. COMPLIANCE CONSIDERATIONS: Compliance teams should audit the opt-out mechanism for technical functionality across all platform entry points, ensure the Global Privacy Control signal is honored as required under CPRA regulations, and confirm that advertising partner data flows are reflected in the record of processing activities. Annual review of the 'sale' and 'sharing' inventory is required under CPRA.
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This provision means your browsing and purchase data on Whatnot may be used by outside advertising companies to track and target you across the internet, not just on Whatnot.
Your behavioral data, including purchase history and browsing patterns on Whatnot, may be shared with third-party advertisers, potentially enabling cross-platform tracking and profiling. California residents have an explicit opt-out right that other users may not have.
No. ConductAtlas is an independent monitoring service. We are not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Whatnot.