Data removal services explained: what they do, what they can't, and the free route

Data brokers and people-search sites collect details about you and sell them, usually without you ever dealing with them. A data removal service is a paid way to ask them to stop. It isn't the only way: the FTC says you can opt out on your own for free, and California residents can send one free request to hundreds of brokers through a state platform. In our view, what a paid service mostly sells is time and follow-up.

We haven't tested any removal service, so we don't rank them. Everything below comes from regulators' and platforms' own pages, NNEDV's guide and the services' own sites, as they read on November 2, 2026. It's general information, not legal advice.

What are data brokers and people-search sites?

The FTC describes data brokers as companies that collect information about people and sell or share it, and people-search sites as one type of data broker. California's privacy agency, CalPrivacy, defines a data broker by the source of the data: a business that gathers and sells information you didn't give it directly.

To build a report, the FTC says, a people-search site may buy information from other brokers, pull it from social media profiles anyone can view, and compile it from government records such as property, voter, court and licensing records. Someone with only your name or phone number could then buy a report showing your age, past and current addresses, employment history and the names and addresses of relatives.

People-search sites are only the visible part. CalPrivacy says brokers may also hold details such as browsing history, precise location and shopping habits, and can draw inferences about your health, finances or family. It lists buyers including advertisers, employers, landlords and debt collectors, and warns that buyers can also include scammers.

What does a data removal service actually do?

It does the opt-out work for you. The FTC describes two ways to opt out of people-search sites: on your own, one by one, for free, or by paying a service to do it. A service typically looks for your listings, submits the requests, reports back and checks again later. The National Network to End Domestic Violence (NNEDV), whose guide the FTC points readers to, says these subscriptions cover people-search sites and other kinds of broker, and keep you out for as long as the subscription lasts.

Will that make you safer? CalPrivacy says limiting how your data is sold can reduce unwanted texts, calls and emails, and that limiting its spread can lower your risk of identity theft and targeted fraud. It also says results vary and may take time to notice. Treat a removal as a reduction in what's exposed, not as a shield.

What can't a data removal service remove?

• Public records. Opting out doesn't delete anything from government records, and the FTC notes that someone could still find them on a government website.
• Some categories of information. The FTC says sites let you opt out of details such as your address or phone number but not others, such as sex offender status.
• Your details in other people's reports. They may still appear in the reports of relatives, neighbors or associates, the FTC warns.
• Data stolen in a breach. A removal request goes to a site or broker; it can't recall data that's already been stolen. Our guide on what to do after a data breach covers the steps that matter there.
• Your credit file. California's Attorney General notes that the state's data broker definition exempts credit bureaus, and a removal service isn't a credit freeze or credit monitoring. Our guide to what identity protection covers explains that separate job.
• Every trace of you. NNEDV calls fully removing your data from all brokers "difficult, if not impossible."

Why do listings come back?

Because new data keeps arriving. The FTC says your information could reappear for sale if your public records change, and that people-search sites may buy from other brokers. NNEDV also says opted-out details may eventually return as new data comes in. That's why every route below involves checking again, and why paid services sell ongoing monitoring.

How to remove your information yourself for free

A free route exists, and it takes time. The FTC says opting out one by one could be time-consuming. NNEDV estimates that working through one list of over a hundred brokers, at a few a day, takes a month or two. CalPrivacy says contacting every broker individually could take weeks of work.

Opt out one site at a time

1. Pick your sites. If you don't know any by name, the FTC points to a guide from NNEDV and a list from the Minnesota House of Representatives. NNEDV suggests starting with the sites that appear when you search your own name, or with the best-known ones.
2. Search each site for your own details. The FTC suggests starting with a phone number or address.
3. When you find your report, look for an opt-out link and follow its steps. If there's no link, the FTC suggests searching the web for the site's name plus "opt out" or "remove my information."
4. Expect to verify yourself. The FTC says opting out may require some identifying information, whether you do it yourself or use a service. NNEDV says that usually means giving an email address or phone number, and suggests creating a new email address for the forms if that worries you.
5. Keep a list and go back. The FTC advises checking periodically and filing a new request if you find new information. NNEDV suggests every three to six months.

These steps are for your own listings. NNEDV notes that most brokers make you confirm you're acting for yourself or with the person's permission.

Watch for impostors. Oregon's Department of Justice warns about people who contact you claiming to be a business holding your data, then ask you to "verify" personal details. It says a genuine check should only follow a privacy request you recently made, so don't answer unsolicited ones, and use the contact details on the company's verified website.

California: one free request through DROP

California's Delete Act (SB 362, passed in 2023) required the California Privacy Protection Agency, known as CalPrivacy, to build a free deletion platform. The result is the Delete Request and Opt-out Platform, or DROP, at privacy.ca.gov/drop. One request goes to the registered brokers active in DROP: over 600 on its homepage, and over 660 in the agency's October 12, 2026 announcement. CalPrivacy says it will never charge you to use DROP, and that it takes most people less than 10 minutes.

You must be a California resident, which you confirm through the state's California Identity Gateway. In some cases you can file for another resident, such as a parent for a child, with their permission. CalPrivacy's How DROP works page says a request needs only your name, date of birth and ZIP code. The residency check comes first and takes its own details, and CalPrivacy's FAQ says you may also be asked to enter and verify a phone number and email address. Adding email addresses, phone numbers, a mobile advertising ID, connected TV ID or vehicle identification number makes a match more likely. CalPrivacy says your details are hashed, so brokers compare scrambled versions rather than seeing the originals.

DROP is live, and CalPrivacy says it's working. On October 12, 2026, the agency reported more than 560,000 Californians registered, and said a typical user had information reported as deleted by more than 150 brokers. Those are the agency's figures, built on what brokers report.

You only submit once. CalPrivacy says brokers must honor the request on an ongoing basis, re-checking and deleting new matches at least every 45 days (every 30 days from January 1, 2027), so "record not found" today could become "deleted" later. Check progress with your DROP ID and keep that ID private. You can add details to your profile, though updates are limited to once every 45 days. Brokers that fail to delete can face fines of $200 a day per consumer, CalPrivacy says, and its DROP help page has a form for reporting one.

DROP has limits too:

• Exempt data stays. CalPrivacy's examples are public records such as vehicle, property or voting records, and data covered by other laws, including the Fair Credit Reporting Act, HIPAA and the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act.
• So do details you gave a business directly, though you can send that business its own privacy request. If a broker later bought those details, DROP does apply.
• It only reaches brokers in DROP. CalPrivacy has brought more than a dozen actions against unregistered brokers, so not every business signs up on its own.
• CalPrivacy also lists publicly available data among what DROP won't delete, so in our reading a people-search listing built from public records may not clear through DROP. Keep the site-by-site opt-outs and Google's tools in reserve for those.

State privacy rights: site by site

We didn't find a platform like DROP on the official pages of the other states we checked, and CalPrivacy calls California the first in the world to offer one. Several states do give residents the right to delete and opt out, which you use by contacting each company. What their official pages say:

• California: you can ask businesses to delete what they collected from you and to stop selling or sharing your information, and they should respond within 45 days. CalPrivacy says SB 923, signed September 27, 2026, extends deletion to information obtained from third parties from January 1, 2027.
• Connecticut: the Attorney General's page says the right to delete covers data from third parties, and publicly available information compiled into a consumer profile on a public website.
• Oregon: the Department of Justice lists rights to delete and opt out, with answers due within 45 days. It says purchased data can often be deleted from a people-search site but public-record data can't, and that many people-search sites offer an opt-out or suppression option. The state's broker registry shows whether you can opt out of a broker and how.
• Texas: the Attorney General lists rights to delete data provided by or obtained about you and to opt out of its sale, with answers due within 45 days. Small businesses are generally exempt.
• Colorado: the Attorney General lists rights to delete personal data and to opt out of its sale.

Each law has exemptions and covers that state's residents, and the 45-day deadlines can be extended in some cases. CalPrivacy says Delaware, Indiana, Maryland and New Jersey already have a stronger deletion standard than California's current one, and names Oregon, Texas and Vermont as the other states requiring brokers to register. Your own attorney general's site is the place to check what applies to you.

How to remove personal information from Google search results

This is a separate job. Google says it can only remove results from Google Search: the page stays online, and people can still reach it through links, social media or other search engines. So removing a people-search result from Google doesn't take you off that site. It works the other way too: NNEDV says search results may keep showing old previews for a while after a broker removes you.

How do you use Results about you?

Results about you finds search results that show your home address, phone number or email address, and lets you request their removal. Google says some of these features are still rolling out, for users over 18 in certain markets. For someone under 18, it points to its detailed removal form.

1. Open it. In the Google app, select your profile picture or initial, then Results about you. On the web, go to the Results about you page and select Get started or Settings.
2. Enter your name and the contact details to look for. You can add a nickname, maiden name, and several phone numbers, home addresses or email addresses. Turn on notifications if you want alerts about new results.
3. Open the To review tab and select a result. Request its removal, or choose Mark as reviewed to leave it.
4. Check progress under Removal requests. Google emails you a confirmation and status updates. Requests show as In progress, Approved, Denied or Undone.

You can also start from a search result. Sign in, search for your name, select More beside the result, then Remove result > It shows my personal info and I don't want it there > Contact Info, and follow the steps. Enter your details exactly as the page shows them.

What will Google remove, and what won't it?

Beyond contact details, Google's removal request form covers confidential government IDs such as Social Security numbers, bank account and card numbers, pictures of your signature or ID, private records such as medical records, and confidential usernames and passwords. It also handles doxxing content. You or a representative can file it, and you must give the URLs of the pages involved.

Google won't remove everything. It says it keeps results it considers valuable to the public, such as pages from government or educational institutions and newspapers, and it won't act on information you control yourself, such as a social media page you own. Most approved requests remove the URL from all searches, but sometimes only from searches containing your name.

To take something off the web itself, Google says the best step is to contact the website's owner. Once the owner has changed the page, you can ask Google to refresh the outdated result.

How to judge a paid data removal service

Is there a best data removal service?

We can't honestly name one. We haven't tested these services, and we won't rank them on their marketing. The more useful question is whether a service answers the checks below on its own pages before you pay. The first three are the FTC's; the rest are our advice, built on the official pages cited.

• How many sites it covers, and which. A count is a start, but a published list lets you look for the sites that actually show your details. Compare the count across the company's own pages too.
• Whether it reports back. Will you get a report of the sites it opted you out of?
• How often it re-scans. The FTC says to ask how often it scans those sites and deletes information that has come back or is new. "Continuous" doesn't answer that without an interval.
• Who is behind it. Look for a named legal company, an address, and terms and a privacy policy that name the service. Check whether the same company also sells reports about people.
• What it asks for. For comparison, a DROP request needs as little as your name, date of birth and ZIP code, after a separate state residency check. If a service wants more, such as a Social Security number, find out why, and read what its privacy policy allows it to do with those details, including for marketing.
• What it promises. A claim to erase you from the internet goes further than what the FTC says opting out can do.
• What happens when you stop. Going by NNEDV's description, the protection lasts only as long as the subscription, so read the renewal and refund terms before you pay.
• Whether you already have one. Some security suites include a version. Norton's comparison page lists Privacy Monitor in Norton 360 Deluxe and Premium (US and Canada only) and all Norton 360 with LifeLock plans. Its page links to a list of supported brokers and tells members to re-run the scan every three months, and an add-on, Privacy Monitor Assistant, files the requests for you. Check your plan before buying a second service.

Which services have we reviewed?

We review two services in this category and don't rank one above the other. RemoveMe is sold by RealDefense, LLC, which does business as iolo. It says it files opt-out requests for you, tracks them on a web dashboard and re-submits removals when brokers republish your details, and it focuses on US sites. On November 2, 2026, its site and iolo's product page both said 400+ data broker sites, while iolo's help article dated January 12, 2026 said over 115 and three iolo articles linked from that product page said 115+. We didn't find a published list or a stated re-scan interval. Our RemoveMe review covers its privacy policy and terms.

AntiBridge, run by the Lithuanian company Whitebridge ai, pairs an exposure report with opt-out requests; you'll find it on our identity protection hub. The same company sells reports about other people under the WhiteBridge name, which is what the check above tells you to look for. The privacy group noyb filed a GDPR complaint about those reports in September 2025 and lists it as pending. Our AntiBridge review covers both. NNEDV's guide lists other examples, which it says it doesn't endorse. We may earn a commission if you buy through links on our review pages and identity protection hub, at no cost to you; our disclosure page explains how that works.

Should you pay or do it yourself?

• You live in California: start with DROP. It's free, and you can still opt out of individual sites or pay for a service later.
• Your main worry is what comes up in Google: start with Results about you, then opt out of the sites it finds, since Google can't remove them from the web.
• You don't have many listings, or you have some time: do the manual opt-outs, starting with the sites that appear for your name, and set a reminder to check again.
• You'd rather not spend the hours: paying is a reasonable choice, and the FTC lists it as one of the two routes. Run through the checks above first.

What if you're worried about a stalker or abuser?

The FTC singles out survivors of domestic violence or stalking, who may not want their address or relatives' details to be findable. NNEDV's guide is written for that situation, and it also explains address confidentiality programs, which it says most states run for victims of certain crimes and which can keep a real address out of public records. In California, the Attorney General says Safe at Home participants, law enforcement officers and public officials can ask a website not to post their address publicly. NNEDV also points to the National Domestic Violence Hotline for support. If you're in immediate danger, call 911.