WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Maggie Hassan (D-NH), Ranking Member of the Joint Economic Committee, is pushing five major data broker companies to improve the ease and accessibility of data opt-out options for consumers. The push comes after a WIRED investigation found that more than 30 data brokers may be hiding data collection opt-out options.  

 “American consumers seeking to protect or delete personal information collected by websites should not be met with barely visible links, multiple screens of dense text, or opt-out options hidden from search results entirely. I write today to seek answers regarding the accessibility and design of the opt-out options that your company provides,” wrote Senator Hassan. 

 “Data brokers and other online providers have a responsibility to prevent the misuse of consumer data, and Americans deserve to understand if and how their personal information is being used,” continued Senator Hassan. “Hiding or burying opt-out options for data collection only compounds the difficulties that Americans encounter when attempting to protect their privacy.” 

Click here or see below for letters sent to IQVIA Digital Inc., Comscore, Inc., Telesign, 6sense Insights, Inc., and Findem, Inc.: 

Dear Mr. Bousbib: 

American consumers seeking to protect or delete personal information collected by websites should not be met with barely visible links, multiple screens of dense text, or opt-out options hidden from search results entirely. I write today to seek answers regarding the accessibility and design of the opt-out options that your company provides.  

A recent investigation published by WIRED found that more than 30 data brokers, including IQVIA Digital Inc., have hidden data collection opt-out options from consumers, in part by using code to tell search engines like Google and Bing to exclude pages with these options. The WIRED report also noted that among the identified companies, accessing privacy options “often required scrolling multiple screens, dismissing pop-ups for cookie permissions and newsletter sign-ups, then finding a link that was a fraction the size of other text on the page.” 

Data brokers and other online providers have a responsibility to prevent the misuse of consumer data, and Americans deserve to understand if and how their personal information is being used. According to Pew Research, the vast majority of Americans claim to “understand little to nothing about what companies are doing with their personal data” and feel that they have “little to no control” over its use. Concerningly, new technologies have enabled data brokers to collect even more personal information from online sources, adding to data privacy concerns. Hiding or burying opt-out options for data collection only compounds the difficulties that Americans encounter when attempting to protect their privacy – and in fact, these “dark patterns”  have “the substantial effect of subverting or impairing a consumer’s autonomy, decision making, or choice,” according to an enforcement advisory from the California Privacy Protection Agency.   

Given the importance of data transparency and privacy, I urge you to ensure that consumers have easy access to prominently displayed opt-out options. I also ask that IQVIA Digital Inc. respond to the following requests to aid the Joint Economic Committee - Minority in understanding your opt-out options and policies. 

1. Please explain the design rationale behind the current placement of opt-out options for consumers on your website. How did IQVIA Digital Inc. consider the impact of potential “dark patterns” – such as making opt-out text miniscule or extremely hard to find – on outcomes for consumers, if at all?  

2. Have you maintained code on any pages containing opt-out options that has excluded these pages from search results? If so: 

a.       How long has this code been in place? 

b.       Did you exclude these opt-out options from search results intentionally, and if so, why? 

c.       Since the code has been in place, how many unique users did you collect data on? 

d.       Will you commit to removing this code by September 3, 2025? 

3. Do you conduct audits or other assessments of the visibility of your opt-out options or the success rates of opt-out requests? If so, please provide results from any assessments conducted in the last five years.   

4. Since the publication of the investigation by WIRED and its partners, what steps have you taken to ensure that your data collection opt-out and privacy pages are visible and accessible to the public? 

Please provide your responses as soon as possible but in no event later than September 3, 2025.   

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