To remove your personal information from data brokers, you send each broker an opt-out request, or you pay a service to send them for you, and then you check again every few months because records come back. California residents have a shortcut: a free state tool that sends one deletion request to every registered broker at once. This guide covers both routes, plus what opting out can’t do.
What data brokers have on you
Data brokers are companies that collect personal information and sell it. The ones most people notice are people-search sites, which let anyone look up a name and get back a report. The FTC says these sites buy information from other data brokers, collect it from public social media profiles and compile it from government public records, such as property records and court judgments. A report can include your age, your current and previous addresses, other names you’ve used, your marital status and the names and addresses of family members.
Other brokers never show up in a search result but hold far more. California’s data broker registry notes that broker data can include Social Security numbers, precise geolocation, health information and browsing history.
Option 1: Opt out of each site yourself
Opting out yourself costs nothing but time. The FTC describes the same steps for every people-search site:
- Search the site for your name, phone number or address.
- If you find a report about you, look for an opt-out link or instructions and follow them.
- If the site has no visible opt-out link, search the site’s name with phrases like “opt out” or “remove my information”.
- Repeat on the other people-search sites.
The FTC warns that opting out may require you to give some information to verify your identity. Use the minimum the form requires. It also points to lists of people-search sites and their opt-out pages, including one kept by the National Network to End Domestic Violence and one published by the Minnesota House of Representatives, so you don’t have to hunt for every site on your own.
Keep a simple log: the site, the date you opted out and the confirmation. You’ll need it when you check again.
Option 2: Pay a removal service
Paid services send opt-out requests to many brokers on your behalf and repeat them on a schedule. Before you sign up, the FTC says to find out:
- how many websites the service covers;
- whether it gives you a report of the sites it opted you out of;
- how often it scans those sites and removes information that has reappeared.
A service saves time. It still can’t promise your records won’t reappear.
Option 3: California’s DROP, if you live there
California built a free tool called DROP, the Delete Request and Opt-out Platform, which went live on January 1, 2026. One request from DROP goes to every data broker registered in California, more than 600 of them. California requires brokers to register with the state every year, between January 1 and January 31, which is how DROP knows who to contact.
Since August 1, 2026, registered brokers must check DROP at least every 45 days, delete the records of people who asked, and keep deleting matching records on that schedule. The state says status updates can take up to 90 days to show up, and that by November 2026 all brokers should have finished their first round of processing.
DROP is only for California residents. You verify your residency through the California Identity Gateway or Login.gov. You can also file on behalf of someone else, such as a child or an elderly relative.
Clean up search results too
Removing a people-search listing and removing a Google result are two separate jobs. Google’s “Results about you” tool lets you ask Google to remove search results that show your phone number, home address or email address. It removes the result from Google Search, not the page from the web, so the broker still has the listing until you opt out there too. Google may also refuse to remove results from government, news or business sites.
Outside the US: the right to erasure
In the UK, the right to erasure lets you ask an organization to delete personal data it holds about you, including a data broker. The ICO says the right only applies in certain circumstances, for example when the organization no longer needs the data or when you withdraw consent it relied on. You can make the request verbally or in writing, and the ICO’s template asks for a reply within one calendar month. The ICO says its guidance is under review after the Data (Use and Access) Act, so check its page for the current wording.
What opting out can’t do
Opting out has real limits. The FTC says your information can reappear for sale if the information in your public records changes, and it may still show up in reports about your relatives, neighbors or associates. It also says opting out of a people-search site doesn’t delete the public records the site got the data from: the county still has the property record, and the court still has the court file.
That’s why removal is ongoing work. Recheck the sites you opted out of every few months, or let DROP or a paid service repeat the requests for you. If you’re also worried about someone opening accounts in your name, a credit freeze blocks new credit, which is a different problem from data brokers.
