How to delete yourself and your information from the internet

To remove your information from the internet, opt out of the data brokers and people-search sites that list you, ask Google to drop the results showing your contact details, and delete the accounts you no longer use. You can't erase everything (public records, news and breached data mostly stay), but you can make your address, phone number and email far harder to find. Plan to check again every few months, because brokers relist people.

What's out there about you online?

More than most people expect. Data brokers and people-search sites (companies that collect and sell personal info) build profiles from public records and the data apps and stores sell on. A typical listing puts your current and past addresses, phone numbers, age and relatives' names on one page, often for free.

That's what scammers, spammers and the occasional ex use. Old content counts too: a forum post from 2012 can still come up when an employer searches your name.

Your digital footprint has three layers, and they need different fixes:

• Things you posted yourself: social media, reviews, old accounts. You can delete most of these.
• Things others publish about you: broker listings, people-search pages, news, public records. You have to ask someone else to remove them.
• Leaked data: your email and passwords in breaches, sometimes traded on the dark web. This can't be removed, only detected and made useless (change the password, freeze your credit).

For more on the first layer, read our guide on how to protect your digital footprint.

How to remove your information from the internet, step by step

1. Map what's out there. Search your full name with your city, then your phone number and your email in quotes. Write down every page that shows your address or phone number. This list is your to-do list.
2. Opt out of data brokers and people-search sites. This is the step that removes the most personal info, so do it early. Details in the next section.
3. Ask Google to remove results with your contact details or ID numbers, using Results about you.
4. Delete accounts you don't use. Forgotten shopping, forum and dating accounts still hold your data and show up in breaches.
5. Clean up social media. Delete dead profiles and lock down the ones you keep.
6. Use your legal right to deletion where you have one (GDPR, CCPA, California's DROP).
7. Cut what you hand out from now on. Remove unused apps, limit app permissions, and use a separate email for sign-ups.
8. Check again in 3 months. Brokers refresh their data and relist people, so one pass is never the end.

You don't need to do it all in one evening. Steps 2 and 3 do the most good for the least effort.

How to remove your personal information from data broker sites

Go to each people-search site that lists you, find its opt-out page (usually linked in the footer as "Do not sell my info" or "Privacy"), and submit your listing's URL. Most ask you to confirm by email. In the US, the big names to start with are Whitepages, Spokeo, BeenVerified, Intelius, TruePeopleSearch and FastPeopleSearch.

A few things you'll run into:

• The confirmation email often lands in spam. Check there before you assume a request failed.
• One broker can run several sites under different names, and opting out of one doesn't always cover the others.
• Some ask for more personal info than they had on you. Give only what's needed to find your listing.
• Listings come back. A new address or phone number can create a fresh profile months later.

Doing 5 or 6 big sites by hand is worth it. Doing dozens, and redoing them every quarter, is where most people give up. Our guide to removing yourself from data broker sites covers the opt-out process in more detail.

If you live in California: use DROP

Since January 2026, Californians can send one deletion request to every registered data broker through DROP (the Delete Request and Opt-out Platform), run by the state's privacy agency. Registered brokers had to start processing those requests on August 1, 2026, and must check the platform at least every 45 days. More than 300,000 Californians had signed up by June 2026, according to CalPrivacy.

DROP only covers brokers registered in California, and it doesn't touch public records like property or voter files. It's still the best free option in the country if you qualify. Sign up, then keep opting out of any people-search site that still shows you.

How to remove yourself from Google search results

You can't always remove content from the internet, but you can often remove it from Google. That's usually where people find you, so it's worth doing.

Use Google's Results about you tool

Open Results about you from your Google account photo in the Google app, or search "results about you". Add your name, phone number, email and home address, and Google monitors Search and tells you when a result shows them. Since February 2026 you can also add government ID numbers, such as a passport, driver's license or Social Security number, per Google.

Google typically accepts requests for:

• Phone numbers, email or home address (especially in doxxing cases)
• Government ID numbers, bank or card details, medical information
• Non-consensual explicit images

Expect a few days to a few weeks for a decision. Google says it won't normally remove a result while the information is still on a public website, so contact the site too.

Know what Google removal doesn't do

Removing something from Google doesn't delete it from the internet. It just makes it harder to find. Bing has its own tools, and so does every search engine that indexes the page.

Table: Where to send each kind of removal request

When you write to a website directly, keep it short: the exact URL, what you want removed, and (if it applies) the law you're relying on. Don't attach files; site owners tend to treat attachments as possible malware. For a full walkthrough, read our guide on how to remove search results about you from Google.

How to delete yourself from social media

Social media is often the biggest source of personal info you posted yourself. Before you start, know the difference between the two options most platforms give you.

Table: Deactivating vs deleting a social media account

Download your data first if you want to keep your photos. Menus change often, so if a path doesn't match what you see, search the platform's help center.

Facebook

• Deactivate or delete: click your profile picture, then Settings and privacy → Settings → Accounts Center → Personal details → Account ownership and control → Deactivation or deletion. Choose Delete account to remove it for good (permanent after about 30 days).
• Download your data: Settings → Accounts Center → Your information and permissions → Export your information.
• Meta is moving people from Accounts Center to Meta Account, so you may see either name. Facebook's help page on permanently deleting your profile has the current steps.

X (formerly Twitter)

• Deactivate or delete: Settings and privacy → Your account → Deactivate your account (deleted after 30 days if you don't log in)
• Download your data: Settings and privacy → Your account → Download an archive of your data

Instagram

• Deactivate or delete: Settings → Accounts Center → Personal details → Account ownership and control → Deactivation or deletion. Choose Delete account to remove it for good (permanent after about 30 days).
• Download your data: Settings → Accounts Center → Your information and permissions → Export your information.
• As on Facebook, you may see Meta Account instead of Accounts Center. Instagram's help page on deleting or deactivating your profile has the current steps.

TikTok

• Delete: Profile → Menu → Settings and privacy → Account → Deactivate or delete account (30-day grace period)
• Download your data: Settings and privacy → Account → Download your data

LinkedIn

• Hibernate: Settings & Privacy → Account preferences → Hibernate account
• Delete: Settings & Privacy → Account preferences → Close account
• Download your data: Settings & Privacy → Data privacy → Get a copy of your data

Snapchat

• Delete: Settings → Account Actions → Delete Account (30-day deactivation before permanent deletion)
• Download your data: available through My Data in settings or the account portal

Deleting a profile doesn't remove what others posted about you, like tagged photos or comments. Ask them directly, or report the post if it shares private info.

How to use your right to be forgotten

In many places you have a legal right to ask a company to delete your personal data. In the EU and UK this is the "right to erasure", set out in Article 17 of the GDPR. You can ask a company to delete your information if it:

• No longer needs your data
• Collected it without a valid reason
• Relied on your consent, and you've withdrawn it

In the US it depends on your state. California residents have deletion rights under the CCPA, plus DROP for brokers, and a growing number of other states have their own privacy laws.

To make a request:

1. Find the company's privacy page or privacy email address.
2. Ask it to delete your data, name the law if you know it applies, and include the account email or URL.
3. Save its reply and the date. Follow up if you hear nothing after a month.

Companies can sometimes say no if they have a legal reason to keep your data. EU residents can also ask Google to delist outdated or irrelevant results about their name through its right to be forgotten form.

What you can't remove (and what to do instead)

Some things stay online no matter how many forms you send:

• Public records, like court filings, property records and some business registrations. Ask the people-search sites that copy them to remove you, since that's where most people see them.
• News articles. Publishers rarely delete them, though some will update or anonymize old stories on request.
• Breached data. Once your email and password leak, copies spread. Change the password and turn on two-factor login. Then expect more phishing for a while. Our guide on getting your information off the dark web explains what's realistic.

If your phone number is the problem, read what someone can do with your phone number to see which risks are real.

How Serus keeps your data off the internet

Everything above works by hand. The hard part is scale and repetition: finding every broker that lists you where you live, then chasing the ones that never reply and catching the listings that come back.

That's the part Serus automates. It finds where your personal data shows up, including data brokers, people-search sites and search results, files the removal requests for you and re-files them when your data reappears. Many low-friction brokers clear within 24 to 72 hours; harder ones can take 30 days or more. It also monitors the dark web and breach databases and alerts you when your email or passwords appear there (that data can't be removed, but you can act on it fast). Autopilot queues new exposures as they're found.

Run a free scan to see where you stand.

Expand