Between the passage of multiple new privacy laws, another record-setting GDPR fine, and more, 2023 was an eventful year for the privacy industry. This landscape will only evolve as we move forward into the new year.

Based on the events in 2023, what new privacy developments can we expect in 2024? Let’s take a look.

Increased Consumer Awareness

Every time another privacy violation fine hits the headlines, the issue of consumer data protection is at the forefront of people’s minds. Transparency laws have also made consumers more aware of who has their data, where they got it, and how it’s used. And not everyone likes what they see.

Consumers may be more reluctant to share their data with organizations they aren’t sure they can trust. This can result in decreased lead flow for sales teams. It can also lead to a lack of valuable data for the marketing team to process or a buildup of unusable “dirty data” that customers provide in an attempt at privacy.

Increased consumer awareness can also lead to an uptick in DSARs (data subject access requests), where a customer asks that you share all of the data you’ve collected on them. Laws like the GDPR require you to respond to every DSAR you receive. DSARs already take up a great deal of company time and resources, and an unexpected increase can cause you to fall behind—which isn’t great since late responses to DSARs can result in significant fines.

Drastic Worldwide Increase in Privacy Regulations

Gartner estimates that by the end of 2024, 75% of the world’s population will be protected by privacy laws. The influx of new or updated legislation seems to support this estimate. As consumer awareness climbs and privacy risks become more severe, governments worldwide will do their best to protect themselves and their citizens. This means more and better protection for consumers—and more laws for your company to keep track of.

New State Privacy Laws

Without a federal US privacy law, individual states have passed their own regulations for several years. Connecticut and Colorado passed laws in 2022 that took full effect in July 2023. Utah’s privacy law will begin enforcement on December 31, 2023, while Delaware’s was signed in 2023 but won’t take full effect until 2025. Texas also became the second-largest state (following California) to establish its own privacy law in June 2023. States with existing privacy laws have also seen multiple updates and amendments passed as the privacy landscape changes. We can only expect to see more of this in 2024, and marketers will need to rework their existing marketing strategy to stay compliant.

This is an excerpt from our eBook, “Privacy Developments to Watch in 2024”. Download and read the full eBook for free here.