How to remove your personal information from the internet

Where your information shows up

• People-search sites. Anyone can search them, and many show someone's name, age, addresses, phone numbers and relatives. Most of them have an opt-out.
• Data brokers. California calls a data broker a business that gathers and sells information you didn't give it directly. Many of them take opt-outs too.
• Google search results. Google's Results about you lets you ask it to remove results that show your home address, phone number or email. The page itself stays on the other site.
• Public records, such as property and voting records. Consumer Reports notes that several state privacy laws exempt public information.

What doing it by hand takes

• Time. The steps differ from site to site, and most sites have their own form. Consumer Reports says some ask you to make an account, or to give a driver's license number or a current phone number.
• It often works. In a Consumer Reports test published in 2024, opt-outs done by hand removed 70% of profiles within a week. The seven paid removal services it tested removed 0% to 58.7% in the first week, and the best of them reached 68% after four months. We sell a paid service that sends these requests too, and we weren't part of that test.
• It isn't complete. Consumer Reports says even doing it by hand is not likely to clear every people-search profile.
• Listings can come back. Consumer Reports says info sometimes gets removed, then shows up again weeks or months later.
• The test was small: 32 people and 13 sites, in 2023, and the by-hand group was 4 of those people. Consumer Reports says its results are not statistically significant. It also gave the services limited details, like a name, current address and date of birth, and says more details might have helped them.

How to remove your information, step by step

1. 1

   Search Google for your name with your city, and for your phone number. Write down each people-search site that shows you.

2. 2

   Opt out of each one. Our guides have the steps for many of them: People-search opt-out guides

3. 3

   Opt out of the big marketing data brokers too, like Acxiom, Epsilon and LexisNexis. Start here: How to opt out of Acxiom

4. 4

   Ask Google to remove results that show your address, phone number or email: Our Results about you guide

5. 5

   Live in California? DROP, the state's free tool, sends one request to over 600 registered data brokers: Our DROP guide

6. 6

   Keep a list of each site and the date you opted out. Search again in about a month, then every few months, and after you move or change numbers.

How long does it take?

Consumer Reports found that most of what came down in its four-month test came down in the first week. Each site's own timing is in its guide.

Does removing a Google result delete my info?

No. Google says the info still exists on the source web page, whether your request is approved or denied. To take it off the site, use that site's own opt-out.

Is there one form for every site?

No. Most people-search sites have their own opt-out, and a few companies use one form for several of their sites. California residents can send one DROP request to over 600 registered data brokers, but other sites don't get it.

Can I remove public records?

Usually not the record itself. Several state privacy laws exempt public information, and California says brokers can keep publicly available data and data the law exempts. It names public records like real estate ownership or voting records as examples.