I asked 100 companies for my data. Some deleted it instead.
A test of 100 companies' responses to personal data requests found that the process frequently broke down — some companies deleted data instead of providing it, and many requests led to confusion or no result at all.
Why this matters: You have a legal right to your data in a growing number of places. That right is worth very little if companies cannot tell the difference between 'send me my data' and 'erase my data.' These are not the same thing, and mixing them up has real consequences. Deletion means you lose the chance to see what was collected. The test also shows that most companies have not built this for you. They built it to technically comply. There is a difference, and most people only discover it when they try to use it.
Who should care: General readers · Privacy officers · Policy
This summary is AI-assisted and may contain errors. It is an original briefing to help you gauge significance quickly — not a reproduction of the source. Always read the linked original before relying on it. See our methodology.