What Is CPPA?

The California Privacy Protection Agency (CPPA) is the regulatory body responsible for enforcing the CCPA, including investigating violations and levying fines. It's distinct from the CCPA itself, the CPPA is the enforcer, the CCPA is the law, and its enforcement actions are one of the clearest real-world signals of how the law gets interpreted in practice.

The distinction between the law (CCPA) and its enforcer (CPPA) matters because enforcement actions are where abstract legal requirements become concrete precedent: the PlayOn fine, brought by the CPPA, established that a CMP recording an opt-out isn’t enough; failing to actually stop tags from firing afterward is itself a violation. Watching what the CPPA actually pursues is often a better guide to real compliance risk than the statute alone.