To remove yourself from a people-search site, find your listing on the site, then use that site's own opt-out page to ask it to suppress the listing, usually by giving the profile's URL and confirming by email. Repeat that for each site, keep a record of what you sent, and search again a few weeks later. There is no single switch that covers every site, and the Federal Trade Commission describes doing it yourself as "one by one, for free." This article sets out the process in order.
Before you start
Have these ready:
- A separate email address. Most opt-out forms send a confirmation link. A dedicated address keeps those messages together and avoids handing your main inbox to more companies.
- Your name variations and past addresses. Profiles are often filed under a maiden name, a middle initial, or a city you left years ago.
- A place to keep records. A spreadsheet or a note with the site, the date, the profile URL and what happened is enough. You will need it when you check back.
You do not need to buy a report or create a paid account to opt out. If a site asks for payment to remove a listing, stop and look for its privacy or opt-out page instead.
Step 1: Find your listings
The FTC's advice is to search for yourself on people-search sites by name, phone number and address. Do all three: a profile that does not come up by name can come up by an old phone number.
Start with the sites that publish a profile you can see. Our list of people-search sites groups them, and the broker directory covers every site in our registry. A general web search for your name in quotes, with your city, will also surface people-search pages that rank for it.
When you find a listing, copy its full URL. Most opt-out forms ask for it, and it is how you will check later whether the listing is still up.
Step 2: Use the site's own opt-out
Each site runs its own process. Common patterns:
- A search-and-select form. You search for yourself on the opt-out page, pick your listing, and confirm by clicking a link sent to your email.
- A URL form. You paste the profile URL and an email address, then confirm by email.
- A privacy request. Some sites handle removal through a general privacy request form or email address rather than a dedicated opt-out page.
Consumer Reports, which tested opt-outs on 13 people-search sites in 2023, found that the process "differs from site to site," that some sites "require users to create accounts and/or divulge information (such as driver's license numbers or current phone numbers) as a prerequisite for opting out," and that some use designs that appear "intended to trick users into signing up for subscriptions or other paid offerings." Read each page before you click, and give only what the form actually requires.
Our guides set out the current route for each site, including where the form is and what it asks for. For example: Spokeo, Whitepages, TruePeopleSearch, FastPeopleSearch and BeenVerified.
One form for several sites
Some sites share an owner, and an owner can run one opt-out for several of its sites. PeopleConnect names Intelius, TruthFinder, US Search, Instant Checkmate and Classmates as its brands and links a privacy center from its own site. Our PeopleConnect network page shows which sites' opt-out links lead to the same suppression center. Where sister sites each run their own opt-out, as on the BeenVerified network, you have to submit on each one.
Step 3: Send a written request where the form falls short
If a site has no working form, or you live in a state with a consumer privacy law, a written deletion request is a second route. It names the law you are relying on and the deadline the business has to respond. Our free kit writes these letters in your browser for the sites in our registry, and nothing you type into it is sent to us. How to opt out of data brokers explains how the letter works.
If you are a California resident, the state's DROP platform sends one deletion request to every registered data broker; brokers must start processing those requests from August 1, 2026. See our DROP guide. DROP and the site-by-site opt-outs are not either-or: a site that is not a registered broker never receives a DROP request.
Step 4: Keep a record
For each site, note:
- The date you submitted.
- The profile URL.
- Whether you received and clicked a confirmation email.
- Any reference number or reply.
This record is what lets you tell a request that is still being processed from one that was never received.
Step 5: Check back
Search for yourself again on each site a few weeks after you submit. Consumer Reports found that of the 47 profiles it opted out manually across 13 sites, 33 were no longer listed after one week and three more after one month, with no further change at four months. The profiles that stay up after a month are the ones to chase. How to check a removal worked covers what to look for, including a listing that has moved to a new URL.
What opting out does not do
- It does not change the public record. The FTC notes that opting out does not remove the government records many profiles are built from, and that "if the information in your public records changes, your information could re-appear for sale on people search sites."
- It does not cover other people's profiles. The FTC warns that "your information may still appear in the reports of your relatives, neighbors, or associates."
- It may not cover close matches. The FTC's 2014 report recommended that people-search sites disclose the limits of their opt-outs, "such as the fact that close matches of an individual's name may continue to appear in search results."
- It does not change search engine results by itself. Once a page is taken down, search results can lag behind. Google's "Results about you" tool lets you ask Google to drop results showing your contact information, but Google says that removing a result from Search "doesn't mean that the info is gone from the internet" because it still exists on the source page.
Because listings can return, plan to repeat the search every few months. Why your information reappears explains the reasons.
Doing it yourself or paying someone
You can do every step above for free. Paid services exist that send the requests for you; the FTC suggests checking how many sites a service covers, whether it documents the removals, and how often it re-checks before you pay. DIY vs paid removal compares the two using the published studies.
Removal is not guaranteed. Some sites don't comply, and some take longer than others.