A senior Trump administration official has abolished plans for data brokers to block the sale of personal and financial information for Americans, including Social Security numbers.
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) said it had planned to close federal laws in December 2024 that protect federal laws protecting American personal data collected by consumer reporting agencies such as the Credit Bureau and tenant screening companies. The rules would have required data brokers to comply with the law’s privacy rules rather than in a way that is different from other companies subject to federal law.
The rules were withdrawn early Tuesday, according to a list of federal registers. Russell Vert, acting director of the CFPB, director of the White House’s Office of Management and Budget, wrote that the rules “does not match the Bureau’s current interpretation” of the Fair Credit Reporting Act.
Wired first reported changes to the rules on Wednesday.
Data brokers are part of a multi-billion dollar industry of companies that make money by collecting and selling access to huge amounts of American personal and financial information. This personal data is often sold to law enforcement and intelligence reporting agencies as well as other companies without the express permission of the individual.
Collecting huge banks of data also carries inherent risks. Over the past year, at least two data brokers have been hacked, spilling millions of Social Security numbers online, excluding a huge swarm of user location data tracking millions of people’s locations.
In 2024 alone, the Federal Trade Commission banned some data brokers from collecting and sharing data about individuals without permission in accordance with allegations of illegal tracking.
Privacy advocates have long urged the government to use fair credit reporting laws to curb data brokers.
The decision by the CFPB to cancel the rules was written by the Financial Technology Association, an industry lobby group representing non-bank fintech companies, writing about his capabilities as the White House budget director. The lobby group asked the administration to withdraw CFPB rules, claiming it was “harmful to financial institutions’ efforts to detect and prevent fraud.”
CFPB did not reply to requests for comment.
The FTA description has been corrected.