Guides

How to Remove Your Personal Information From the Internet (2026 Guide)

2026-06-07 · byscento Privacy Team

Your name, home address, phone number, age, relatives, and more are almost certainly for sale right now - published by data brokers and people-search sites you've never heard of. The good news: you have the legal right to get most of it removed. Here's how to do it.

1. Find out where you're exposed

Start by searching your own name in quotes, plus your city, on Google. Then search the big people-search sites directly (Spokeo, Whitepages, BeenVerified, Radaris, MyLife). You'll usually find profiles listing your address history, phone numbers, and family members.

Write down every site you appear on. This list is your removal to-do list.

2. Opt out of each data broker

Almost every data broker is legally required to offer an opt-out. The method varies:

• Web form - most people-search sites have a "Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information" or "opt-out" page. You find your listing and submit a removal request.
• Email - some brokers accept a deletion request by email to a privacy address.
• Identity check - a few require you to verify who you are before they'll remove a record.

Work through your list one broker at a time. We publish a step-by-step opt-out guide for 600+ brokers if you want the exact method for each.

3. Remove yourself from Google results

Removing the source listing usually causes the Google result to drop off once Google re-crawls the page. For sensitive cases (your home address, phone, or anything that creates a safety risk), Google also has a "Results about you" tool to request removal of pages that expose your contact information.

4. Lock down what feeds the brokers

Brokers buy data from public records, loyalty programs, apps, and other brokers. To slow the refill:

• Tighten privacy settings on social accounts and make profiles non-public.
• Opt out of data sharing in apps and loyalty programs where you can.
• Use a separate email and a masked phone number for sign-ups.

5. Keep monitoring - this is the part people miss

Here's the catch that makes manual removal frustrating: data brokers re-list your information. A broker you opted out of in January can repopulate your profile by spring, because their data comes from sources that keep refreshing. A one-time cleanup doesn't stay clean.

That's why effective removal is a continuous process, not a one-time task: you (or a service) have to re-check and re-submit on an ongoing basis.

The shortcut

Doing this by hand across hundreds of brokers - and re-doing it every few months - is a lot of work. byscento automates the whole loop: it scans 660+ brokers, removes you as your authorized agent with screenshot proof, and re-checks continuously so your data stays off. You can start with a free exposure scan to see exactly where you're listed first.