GoFan ticketing, student tracking for ads
First CPPA enforcement action to address privacy violations involving students and California schools. PlayOn Sports operates GoFan, the official ticketing platform for the California Interscholastic Federation, used by approximately 1,400 California schools. The company deployed tracking technologies to collect personal information and deliver targeted advertising, but required consumers to click “agree” before they could access tickets or use its websites — with no sufficient opt-out method of its own. Instead, PlayOn Sports directed users to third-party industry opt-out mechanisms (Network Advertising Initiative and Digital Advertising Alliance), which CPPA found insufficient to satisfy the company’s own legal obligation to provide an opt-out.
The company also failed to honor opt-out preference signals and provided inadequate privacy disclosures. The captive-audience nature of the ticketing context — consumers had to scan a digital ticket to enter events — heightened the concern. In addition to the fine, PlayOn Sports must conduct risk assessments, improve privacy disclosures, implement proper opt-out methods, and comply with the opt-in consent requirement for selling or sharing personal information of consumers aged 13–15.