Is your blog legally compliant with the CCPA Law? As you may have heard by now, this law came into effect on January 1st, 2020 and can directly affect your blog or online business.
Let’s dig into what the new law is and how to make sure your blog or website is operating legally.
This post contains affiliate links. This means if you make a purchase through one of these links,
I may receive a small commission, at no extra cost to you. All opinions are my own. Read my full disclosure here.
Let me start by saying, this post is simply legal information and does not qualify as legal advice. I am not a lawyer. This post is to inform my readers about certain laws that may affect their blog. For legal advice specific to your blog, website, or business, please consult a lawyer such as Lucrezia Iapichino.
What is the CCPA?
CCPA stands for California Consumer Privacy Act. (And no, you don’t have to live in California for this law to affect your blog!)
In a nutshell, this law gives California residents and consumers the right to know what personal data is being collected about them and how it’s being used.
Don’t think you process personal information, therefore you don’t need to worry? Not so fast…please read on!
Who needs to comply with the CCPA?
Similar to the GDPR, even bloggers located outside of the State of California may need to comply with these new legal requirements. If you’re required to comply and you don’t, you will expose yourself and your blog to the risk of fines and lawsuits.
You may think you don’t process any personal information on your blog. But these personal data collection systems include:
-Cookies
-Contact forms
-Comment systems
-And even Google Analytics.
So if you have a mailing list, you need to comply. If you have a comment section at the bottom of your blog posts, you need to comply. And so on.
If you collect the information of 50,000 Californian users yearly, you need to make sure your blog is legally compliant. You may think that’s a lot. BUT that would mean you’d only need just under 140 blog visitors a day to reach that number.
Turns out, I need to comply!
Until I heard about the CCPA I hadn’t really given too much thought about where my traffic was coming from. Imagine my surprise when I checked my Google Analytics and found that the State/Province I was getting the most traffic from was Los Angelas, California. For a girl from Ontario, Canada, this was really shocking to me!
If you aren’t sure if you need to comply, my advice would be to use the old “better safe than sorry” adage. Even if you aren’t meeting this threshold NOW, why not get it looked after so you’ll be legal when you DO meet that threshold? It will also make your blog look more professional and trustworthy.
While we’re on the topic of blogging legally, did you know using free stock photo sites may not be legal? Learn more HERE.
How to make your blog CCPA compliant
I’m no lawyer. I find most of these blogging legalities very overwhelming. I’m not even going to attempt to walk you through all the legal jargon surrounding this law.
Luckily I found Lucrezia over at BloggingForNewBloggers.com. She IS a lawyer. And she has created a masterclass which will help you get your blog fully CCPA compliant and legal.
Yay!
Hundreds of bloggers enrolled in the first few minutes since release. Myself included.
This Masterclass definitely addresses a need/struggle for bloggers and it provides actionable tips you can start implementing straight away and make your blog CCPA compliant in 5 easy steps.
I finished the class with a much better understanding of this law and how to make the needed adjustments to my blog.
You don’t want to miss out on the launch price of $27 (which is a steal of a deal). The class will only be offered at this low price for a limited time. I do believe the price will go up at some point because it was being offered for free when I signed up!
P.S. To get alerted when free offers like that come up, join my list of lucky subscribers below:
Is your blog legally compliant with the CCPA law? If you think you need to comply I’d suggest getting in while the price is this low. Check out the details of the masterclass HERE – but don’t buy just yet. Make sure you read the rest of this post first!
Making Sure Your ENTIRE Blog Is Legal
Before you sign up for the CCPA training, are you confident your entire blog is set up legally? Are you aware you need a privacy policy, terms and conditions and disclaimer pages on your blog?
Full disclosure: After taking the CCPA masterclass and learning more about privacy policies, I started to panic.
I had the required Privacy Policy, Terms/Conditions, and Disclaimer pages set up on my site. But I knew I had taken short cuts with them and they likely weren’t 100% legal. I had taken the easy way out and used free templates I’d found online.
I knew it was too easy to be the right thing to do. So I planned to spend more time/money on it later but wanted to focus on content right away.
The more I learned about blogging, the more I realized using a free policy was a BIG no-no! But I still put off doing it properly. I put it in the back of my mind and forgot about it.
Big Blogging Mistake!
So now my procrastination was biting me in the butt! I got panicky and overwhelmed.
Since the CCPA is largely focused around your Privacy Policy, I knew I had to make sure my policy was legal before I even tackled the CCPA side of things.
The time to spend more time/money on the legal side of my blog was NOW. I purchased Lucrezia’s Legal Bundle Value Pack and got to work.
Oh my gosh, I can’t tell you how easy that made things!
With the value pack I got:
-Privacy Policy Template
-Cookie Policy Template & recommended Cookie Plugin
-Terms & Conditions Template
-Disclaimer/Disclosure Template
-Affiliate Disclaimer Template
(These templates make things amazingly simple!)
Also:
-Requirements to make your blog CCPA Compliant
-Privacy Policy Requirements under the GDPR
-FTC guidelines and other requirements
-Requirements for the Amazon Affiliate Program
Bonuses
Included in any of the courses are several bonuses. The best may be the coupon code that gives you 25% off on any other legal courses you may need. There is also access to a helpful Facebook group and an opportunity to become an affiliate.
Related Reading: The Best Facebook Groups to Grow Your Blog
The other thing to note is that once you purchase these templates, you have them to use as many times as you want/need. If you start another blog or website in the future, you’ll already have access to the courses and the templates.
Also, Lucrezia updates the courses as needed if the laws change. She’s already updated the CCPA masterclass since I took it!
My Recommendation
Is your blog legally compliant with the CCPA Law? Not sure what you need to do?
IF you are confident your legal pages are in fact legal, I’d recommend JUST using the CCPA Masterclass.
BUT if you want to make sure every aspect of your blog is legal, the Legal Value Pack is the best place to start.
The value pack does explain what is required to make your blog compliant with the CCPA law. BUT it doesn’t go as in-depth with it as the CCPA training does.
For example, the masterclass includes a plugin that gives you access to the necessary form you need to offer your Californian readers. It also breaks things down into 5 actionable steps you need to take to be compliant with the CCPA Law.
My advice would be to take the Legal Value Pack, get your Privacy Policy, Disclaimers, and Terms of Use all set up. THEN use the 25% off discount code to get the full CCPA Masterclass at a lower price.
No matter your needs, there is a course or bundle for you. There are many options including individual classes and many different bundles to choose from. You can check out all the courses HERE. There are even some courses that are totally free (like the one below).
Final Thoughts on Blogging Legally
Making sure your blog is meeting legal requirements (new and old) can feel really inconvenient and confusing. But it’s necessary.
Don’t let the overwhelm take over and force you to have regrets later. Why risk it? If you’re unsure if you’ve done these things properly, I highly recommend you check out these legal courses. The prices are incredibly reasonable for what you get. MUCH more so than hiring a lawyer on your own to figure out how to make your blog or website legal.
It’s a small investment to pay to avoid possible fines down the road. Check out the courses HERE and get that blog legal! I speak from personal experience, the peace of mind is well worth it 🙂
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Blogging Resources I love and recommend:
SiteGround – I use SiteGround as my web hosting platform and I love it. They are trusted by the owners of over 1,900,000 domains! It’s secure, fast, reliable, and the customer service is AMAZING! I’ve contacted them for help for a few reasons and received outstanding support. Learn more about SiteGround HERE.
Tailwind – Is the Pin Scheduler of choice amongst most bloggers. Tailwind allows me to schedule my pins on the days I can’t be near my computer. It’s like a blog/Pinterest assistant. If you haven’t already, sign up for a FREE month of Tailwind HERE.
ShareASale – If you are interested in monetizing your blog through affiliate marketing, ShareASale has got to be one of the easiest ways to do it! They’ve got merchants for every niche looking for affiliates to promote their products. Learn more about ShareASale HERE.
Grammarly – I saw a huge improvement in my writing after installing Grammarly. It’s the World’s leading checker of spelling, grammar, punctuation, and plagiarism. The better your writing, the more credible you will seem to you readers. Did I mention they have a FREE version? Check it out HERE.
This is very helpful, thank you for sharing this valuable information!
Happy to help fellow bloggers with these complicated legal matters! Thanks for the comment, Jody 🙂
Thank you so much for sharing this helpful information. You also reminded me that I need to double check my blog to make sure it’s compliant for the new year.
It’s so easy to put off these blogging legalities, but makes you feel so good to get it out of the way 🙂
I felt like you were chronicling my blogger journey reading this post and have been seeing several bloggers and blog coaches discussing the new legal requirements. I will have to prioritize looking into it because I don’t think it currently applies to me, but from what you’ve said, it might.
Oh it’s quite the journey, isn’t it? 😉
I’m guilty of putting off the legal side of my blog. It feels great to have made it a priority and cross it off my to-do list. For some, (particularly those with very little traffic) the CCPA law might not apply to them just yet. But it’s important to understand the laws so you know when it WILL apply.
THis one was a mystery to me and I had no time to review what I needed to do – so thank you for your article and making it all so much easier!
No problem, Lisa! These blogging legalities can be so confusing.
Oh my gosh!! This is a very informative post! Thank you so much for sharing!
You’re very welcome, Sharon! Thanks for the comment 🙂
Great info! Laws are constantly updating to keep up with the changing industry, bloggers need to be prepared! Appreciate the transparency here and your willingness to share info with others!
Thanks Kristen! I genuinely find the legal side of blogging overwhelming. I found these resources really simplified things for me so I wanted to share 🙂
Wow, so much legalities to know about blogging. This is really good information, thank you.
Thanks for the comment, Corrinne. When I started blogging I had no idea there were as many legal requirements as there are! It can be overwhelming.
This is so helpful! I always wonder which of these laws apply to my blog, and this one was really confusing before I read your post. I’ll be checking out the course now.
Thanks, Jen! This law really does depend on how much traffic you’re getting, specifically from California. Beginners with very little overall traffic won’t have to worry about it…right away, anyway. I personally feel better knowing I’m covered either way 🙂
This slipped by me when I first started blogging – thank you for creating this reminder for everyone!
Making sure you’re blogging legally is an important step I think a lot of new bloggers aren’t aware of. Thanks for the comment, Lisa!
Thank you for this thorough explanation of the CCPA law, expectations and necessity for bloggers. It is easy to accidentally overlook blogging essentials a d this is one that could have seriously negative ramifications.
I think the CCPA law is one a lot of bloggers could easily overlook! Thanks for the comment, Kimberlie 🙂
Thank you for sharing this information. I am going to check and make sure I am compliant.
You’re welcome Linda! I hope you are already compliant but if not, the legal templates mentioned in the post are really helpful and make it quite easy.
Wow great tips! This is a very informative post!
Thanks, Andrea! Glad you found it helpful.
I think anything legal as far as blogging scares me. I’m glad I found this post because I didn’t think that the CCPA applied to me but I’m pretty sure it does. Thanks for the helpful information!
You’re welcome, Heather! The legal stuff that goes along with blogging can be scary, for sure! It can’t hurt to double check!
such a terrific resource for beginner bloggers and bloggers who doesn’t know a thing about the legal side of things in blogging.
thanks for sharing!
Thanks Hari! I’m sure a lot of beginner bloggers aren’t aware of a lot of the legalities that go along with blogging. I hope this info can help a few people out 🙂
Thank you so much for sharing! Is this law exactly the same as GDPR?
Great question, Ann! The GDPR law pertains specifically to traffic coming from the European Union. The CCPA law is for traffic coming from California. So they are two different legalities bloggers should be following 🙂