How to Scrub Your Personal Information from the Internet

Search your name, phone number, email addresses, and home address. You may find people-search profiles, forgotten accounts, copied photos, and public records tied together on one results page.

You can remove much of that exposure. You cannot erase every copy or every lawful public record. Work from the source outward: delete what you control, ask original publishers to remove what they control, opt out of broker databases, then clean up search results.

Start with a private inventory

Write down what you are trying to remove before sending requests. Keep this inventory offline or in an encrypted note. Include your current and former names, addresses, phone numbers, email addresses, and usernames. Add the exact URL for every result you find.

Search while signed out or in a private browser window. Try quoted names, old addresses, phone numbers in several formats, and usernames. Search image results for profile photos. Check the first few result pages, not only the first page.

Record the site, URL, date found, request method, confirmation number, and result. Take a screenshot before each request. This gives you evidence if the site fails to act or if the same profile returns.

Delete the pages you control

Begin with old social accounts, personal websites, forum profiles, marketplace listings, and public cloud files. Download anything you need, remove posts and profile fields, then close the account through the service's own settings. Deactivation may leave the account and its content intact, so read the final confirmation screen.

Remove phone numbers, home addresses, birth dates, workplace details, location history, and public friend lists from accounts you keep. Replace reused profile photos. A reverse-image search can connect accounts that use the same face or image even when the usernames differ.

Ask other people to remove posts that expose your address, travel plans, children's names, or identifying documents. Untagging a photo may break the profile link, but it does not remove the photo itself.

Opt out of people-search sites one by one

People-search sites compile records from public sources, public social profiles, and other brokers. The Federal Trade Commission's consumer guidance says most provide an opt-out process. It also warns that a profile can reappear when the underlying public records change.

1. Search the site for your name, address, or phone number and open the matching profile.
2. Find the site's privacy, suppression, removal, or opt-out page from its own footer or privacy policy.
3. Submit the exact profile URL. Give only the information required to match and verify the request.
4. Use a dedicated email alias when confirmation by email is required.
5. Save the confirmation and check the profile again after the stated processing period.

Repeat this for every site that appears in your search results. Do not assume one request reaches affiliated brands. If a site offers access, correction, deletion, and sale opt-out choices, use the rights that match your jurisdiction and goal.

California residents can review the state's CCPA rights guide. The California Privacy Protection Agency also operates the Delete Request and Opt-out Platform. Brokers began processing DROP requests on 1 August 2026. The California DROP guide explains matching fields, status results, and later record checks.

Use legal deletion rights where they apply

A deletion right is not a universal erase command. It depends on the law, the organisation, why the data is held, and any exemption. Send a narrow request that identifies you, the data, and the action you want. Keep a copy and note the deadline.

Article 17 of the EU General Data Protection Regulation creates a right to erasure in specified circumstances. The same article lists exceptions, including freedom of expression, legal duties, public-interest archiving, research, and legal claims. The UK Information Commissioner's Office provides a plain-language guide to asking an organisation to delete your data.

State and national laws differ. Do not claim a right you do not have. You can still ask for voluntary removal, correction, or suppression and explain any safety risk created by publication.

Remove eligible Google results

Removing a search result and removing a source page are separate jobs. Google's Results about you guidance covers results containing personal contact information such as a home address, phone number, or email address. Google says approved removal affects Search, not the page that hosts the information.

Contact the website owner first when possible. Then request removal of eligible results through Results about you or Google's private-information removal form. If the source page has already changed or disappeared, use Google's outdated-content refresh process so its result can be updated.

Google may keep results from government, education, news, or business sites when it considers them valuable to the public. A denied search request does not prevent you from asking the source publisher to correct or remove inaccurate information.

Public records need a different approach

Property records, court files, professional licences, company filings, and voter records may be public under local law. A broker opt-out does not change the government record. Find the agency that maintains the source and ask what correction, sealing, redaction, or address-confidentiality procedure applies.

Do not transfer property to a company or trust solely to hide an address without legal and tax advice. Old deeds can remain public, and a new entity creates its own filings. For a future move or business registration, ask the responsible agency whether a lawful mailing address, registered agent, or confidentiality programme can keep a residential address off the public-facing record.

If publication creates a specific safety risk, say so clearly and provide only the evidence the programme asks for. Domestic violence, stalking, judicial-safety, and witness-protection rules are local and often have strict eligibility requirements.

A breach is not a removal problem

You cannot recall a breach dump by sending an opt-out. If passwords, payment data, government identifiers, or bank details were exposed, contain the damage instead. Change reused passwords, enable strong multifactor authentication, contact the issuer or bank, and review financial statements.

The FTC's IdentityTheft.gov guidance for exposed information explains actions by data type, including credit reports and freezes for exposed Social Security numbers. Use its recovery process if someone opened an account or made a transaction in your name.

Paid removal services are delegates, not guarantees

A paid service can repeat requests and monitor many broker sites. Before paying, check which sites and countries it covers, how it verifies removals, how often it rescans, what personal data it requires, and how to delete your account with the service itself.

Avoid comparisons built on headline site counts. Coverage lists change, affiliated sites may overlap, and a service cannot erase lawful public records. A useful report should name the broker, request date, status, and next check date.

Check again without feeding the profile

Re-run your searches after requests have had time to process. Check the largest people-search sites every few months and after a move, property transaction, legal filing, or new public registration. Resubmit requests when a profile returns.

Reduce new exposure. Use a distinct email alias for each non-essential account. Keep public profiles sparse. Do not publish travel plans or identity documents. Give a residential address only when it is legally or operationally required. Keep recovery email addresses and phone numbers private.

The result will not be a blank internet. It should be fewer current addresses, fewer linked accounts, fewer searchable phone numbers, and a written process for removing the next listing when it appears.