Guides · 02 September 2026 · 8 min read

How to Delete My Information Online

A step-by-step guide to deleting your personal information online, from data brokers and search sites to social accounts, using CCPA deletion rights.

To delete your information online, find every site that is publishing it, then send each one a deletion request. Most personal data online comes from three sources: data broker and people-search sites, your own accounts and old profiles, and public records. You can remove the first two. The third you usually cannot. Here is how to work through each.

Start by finding what is out there

You cannot delete what you have not found. Before sending a single request, build a list of where your details appear.

1. Search your full name in quotation marks on a search engine. Add your town or city to narrow the results.
2. Search again with your name plus your phone number, then your name plus your email address.
3. Note every people-search or data broker site that shows a profile of you. Common ones include listings that display your age, relatives, and past addresses.
4. Search for old usernames and email addresses you no longer use. These often link to forgotten accounts.

Keep a simple document listing each site, the URL of your profile, and whether you have submitted a removal yet. You will need it, because the process is repetitive.

Remove yourself from data broker and people-search sites

These sites are the biggest source of exposed personal data. Each one has its own opt-out route, but the pattern is similar.

1. Open the profile page that shows your details. Copy its exact URL.
2. Look for a link labelled opt out, do not sell my information, privacy, or remove my record. It is often in the footer of the site.
3. Follow the removal form. You will usually need to confirm which listing is yours by pasting the profile URL or searching for it again.
4. Some sites ask you to verify by email or, less often, by phone. Use an email address you check, since the confirmation link is what actually starts the removal.
5. Submit the request and save the confirmation. Screenshot it or note the date in your tracking document.

If a site offers no form, look for a privacy or opt-out email address on its privacy policy page and send a plain deletion request there. State that you are a California resident exercising your rights under the CCPA if that applies to you, and ask them to delete and not sell your personal information.

What to expect after you submit

Removals are not instant. Some take a few days, others take longer. Check back after a couple of weeks and search for your profile again to confirm it has gone. If it is still live, resend the request and keep your confirmation as evidence.

Use your legal right to deletion

If you live in California, the CCPA gives you the right to ask a business to delete the personal information it holds about you and to tell it not to sell that information. Several other regions have similar laws. To use this right:

1. Send a clear written request stating that you want your personal information deleted and your data not sold or shared.
2. Include enough detail for them to find your record, such as the profile URL and the name and address they are listing.
3. Keep a copy. If a business ignores a valid request, that record matters.

You do not need to pay anyone to exercise this right. The request itself is free.

Clean up your own accounts and profiles

Data brokers scrape a lot of their content from public profiles you created yourself. Closing or tightening those accounts removes a supply line.

1. Delete old accounts you no longer use. Log in, find the account or privacy settings, and look for a delete or close account option. If you cannot log in, use the password reset flow first.
2. On accounts you keep, set your profile to private and remove your phone number, home address, and date of birth from any public field.
3. Remove old posts, forum signatures, and public directory entries that show contact details.
4. Ask search engines to remove outdated cached pages once the original content is gone. Most have a tool to report content that no longer exists on the live page.

What you cannot delete

Some records are public by law, and no request will remove them. This includes:

• Court filings and case records
• Property ownership and deed records
• Company and business registrations
• Voter registration rolls, where public

People-search sites often repackage this public data. You can remove the broker's copy through their opt-out, but the underlying public record stays where it is. Do not trust any service that claims it can erase a court record or property filing. It cannot.

The part nobody likes: it comes back

Deleting your information is not a one-time job. Data brokers rebuild their records from upstream feeds, public records, and each other. A profile you remove today can reappear within a few months once the broker refreshes its data from those sources.

This is why the work is ongoing. Plan to repeat your searches every few months, check whether old listings have returned, and resubmit removals as needed. Keep your tracking document up to date so you are not starting from scratch each time.

Doing this at scale

Working through dozens of brokers by hand is slow, and staying on top of reappearances is the harder part. Vanish is a Mac app that finds where data brokers publish your details and sends CCPA deletion demands on your behalf, then repeats the checks as listings come back. It is one way to automate the routine, but everything above you can do yourself for free if you have the time.

A short checklist

• Search your name, phone, and email to find listings.
• Submit an opt-out on each data broker and people-search site.
• Send a deletion request citing your legal rights where they apply.
• Close old accounts and lock down the ones you keep.
• Accept that public records stay public.
• Repeat every few months.