How to Remove Your Information from the Internet: The Ultimate Guide

In today‘s digital world, it‘s easy for your personal information to end up online without your consent. You may have shared details about yourself on social media or other websites years ago that you no longer want public. Or your data could have been leaked in a breach or sold to shady third parties.

Whatever the cause, you have the right to control your information and online privacy. With some time and effort, you can remove personal details from the internet to limit your digital footprint. This guide will walk you through the steps to scrub your data from the web.

Why Remove Personal Data from the Internet?

Here are some top reasons to delete your information online:

• Prevent identity theft: With your name, birthday, address and other info, thieves can steal your identity and open fraudulent accounts. Removing data reduces this risk.

• Stop marketing calls/emails: Your details are sold to advertisers who spam you with unwanted communication. Opting out cuts down on interruptions.

• Avoid embarrassment: Old social media posts and other info you shared years ago could now be embarrassing. Deleting it gives you a fresh start.

• Enhance privacy: By limiting your digital footprint, you reveal less about yourself to companies, the government and others. This increases privacy.

• Gain control: In today‘s data economy, you often don‘t know who has your information and how it‘s used. Taking back control gives you peace of mind.

• Protect family/friends: You may have shared info about loved ones online that you now realize should be private to protect their safety.

How Personal Information Gets Online

Before learning how to remove data from the internet, it helps to understand how it gets there in the first place:

• You post it: Social media, blogs, forums and other websites where you create an account and share info.

• Companies collect it: Banks, utilities, insurers, employers and others gather your details during business transactions.

• It‘s public record: Your name, age, address and other data are available through court documents, property records and more.

• Cookies and tracking: Websites use cookies, web beacons and other tech to monitor your online activities and collect data.

• Data brokers acquire it: These firms purchase, scrape and aggregate your info from public and private sources to build profiles.

• Breaches expose it: When companies suffer data breaches, personal details like names, emails, passwords and more get leaked.

• You‘re tagged: Friends and family may have tagged you in photos, posts and other content on social media.

• Search engines cache it: Sites like Google and Bing store cached versions of webpages that may contain your info.

Locations of Your Data Online

Your personal details could be scattered across the internet. Here are some places to start looking:

• Social networks: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, TikTok etc.

• Dating apps: Tinder, Bumble, Match, eHarmony and others.

• Review sites: Yelp, Google, Amazon and anywhere you‘ve left reviews.

• forums: Reddit, Quora, wikiHow and other discussion forums.

• Blogs/websites: Anywhere you made an account and posted content.

• Data brokers: Spokeo, Intelius, PeopleFinders, BeenVerified and many more.

• Public records: Voter registration, property records, court documents and more.

• News sites: If you‘ve been mentioned in an article.

• Caching: Search engine caches and the Wayback Machine.

• Dark web: Your info could be bought and sold on dark web marketplaces.

• Google searches: Your name, address, age, phone number and other details may appear in search results.

This list just scratches the surface, but it covers the main places your data is likely to appear online.

Steps to Remove Personal Information from the Internet

Removing all traces of yourself from the web takes time and effort. But you can significantly reduce your digital footprint by taking these steps:

Audit Your Online Presence

• Google yourself to see what‘s out there under your name.

• Search public records for mentions of your name and address.

• Use a people search engine to discover profiles data brokers have on you.

• Check Have I Been Pwned to see if your email or password has been compromised.

• Review all social media and other accounts you have online.

Making a list of where your details appear gives you an overview of the cleanup work required.

Comb Through Social Media Accounts

Social networks contain a treasure trove of personal information.

• Delete old social media accounts you never use. Popular defunct sites include MySpace, Classmates and Friendster.

• Review all posts on current accounts and delete anything too personal you now want removed.

• Change privacy settings to limit who can see your posts and profile info going forward.

• Remove tags of yourself by friends/family you don‘t want public.

Be sure to check all social networks you‘ve used over the years, not just Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn.

Opt-Out of Data Broker Sites

Data brokers build detailed profiles on you from public and private sources. Stop them by opting out:

• Submit opt-out requests at top sites like Spokeo, Whitepages, PeopleFinders and others.

• Use a data broker removal service to automate the opt-out process.

• Check the full list of data brokers and opt out individually or use a removal service for any you find with your details.

Scrub Search Engine Results

If personal information appears prominently in search results, request removal:

• Use Google‘s removal tool for content that threatens your safety or reputation.

• Contact webmasters of sites listing your details and ask them to take down pages with your info.

• Bury negative content further down results by building up more positive pages/mentions associated with your name.

Disable Tracking and Targeted Ads

Limit how much data companies can collect on you:

• Install ad blockers to prevent tracking cookies and banners.

• Opt out of targeted ads by companies like Facebook and Google.

• Use private/incognito browsing and VPN to mask your identity online.

• Clear cookies and browsing history frequently.

Beef Up Account Security

With strong passwords and two-factor authentication enabled across accounts, you reduce the chance of future breaches exposing your data.

Monitor Your Digital Footprint

Removing personal information from the internet is an ongoing process. Keep monitoring your digital footprint a few times a year to address new privacy concerns.

Removing Personal Info From Specific Sites

Here is a deeper look at how to delete your details from some popular platforms:

Facebook

Facebook has over a billion monthly users, making it a common source of personal data online. To take control, go to your Facebook account and:

• Review all posts you‘re tagged in and remove tags/posts you want gone.

• Delete old posts you no longer want public.

• Adjust privacy settings to limit who can see your info.

• Remove apps you‘ve connected to Facebook that may have access to your data.

• Download all your Facebook data for records.

• Deactivate or delete your account if you want to leave Facebook entirely.

Instagram

As a Facebook-owned app, Instagram contains plenty of personal info too. To delete:

• Remove tags on photos you don‘t want searchable under your name.

• Delete posts you want removed.

• Adjust privacy settings on your account, stories and posts.

• Disconnect any third-party apps with access to your data.

• Download your data for personal records.

• Deactivate or delete your account.

LinkedIn

LinkedIn can reveal details like your work history and connections. To enhance privacy:

• Adjust profile settings to limit what network members can see.

• Review all posts/likes and delete anything overly personal.

• Remove yourself from being tagged in any posts/photos.

• Disconnect any third-party apps from your account.

• Download your data via privacy dashboard.

• Hide or delete your account.

Twitter

Twitter is more public than other social networks. To remove your details:

• Delete or make private old tweets with personal info in them.

• Review who you follow/follows you and prune lists.

• Disable location tagging on tweets.

• Adjust privacy settings on your account.

• Remove apps connected to your Twitter account.

• Use a service like tweetdelete.net to bulk delete old tweets.

• Deactivate or delete your Twitter account.

Google

Google collects vast amounts of data on users across its products and services. Here‘s how to limit that:

• Use Google Takeout to download records of your data stored by Google.

• Delete personal info that appears in search results.

• Limit ad personalization and tweak privacy settings.

• Remove Google accounts you don‘t use anymore.

• Use incognito browsing when possible.

• Opt out of Google‘s location history and other tracking services.

Online Forums

Forums like Reddit, Quora and wikiHow are filled with personal anecdotes and info. To delete:

• Delete your accounts on any forums you no longer use.

• Remove any detailed personal posts/comments you‘ve made in the past.

• Don‘t share real names, locations, email addresses or other IRL details when commenting.

Dating Apps

Dating apps can reveal your location, sexual orientation, photos and other intimate details. To enhance privacy:

• Review all profile info, photos and captions and remove anything too personal.

• Turn off location sharing and limit ad targeting in settings.

• Delete your accounts when not actively using the app.

Shopping Sites

Online shopping requires submitting personal and financial data. To be safer:

• Remove stored payment options when you no longer use a shopping site.

• Turn off one-click ordering to prevent unauthorized purchases.

• Adjust privacy settings on the site to reduce data collection.

• Have purchases shipped to secure locations like Amazon lockers rather than home.

• Use virtual credit card numbers to avoid exposing your real card number.

• Clear cookies/browsing history after shopping sessions.

Gaming

Modern games involve creating detailed player profiles. To avoid oversharing:

• Don‘t use real names or locations in your gaming profile.

• Review what player data each game makes public and limit it.

• Delete old gaming accounts you don‘t use anymore.

• Turn off tracking of gameplay time, location and other info.

Be extra careful with information shared through online multiplayer games and chat functions.

Tools to Help Remove Personal Data

Removing all your personal information from the web takes a monumental amount of time and effort. Fortunately, there are tools that can automate parts of the process for you:

• DeleteMe: This service helps you remove your data from people search sites, data brokers and the dark web. Plans start at $129 per year.

• OneRep: OneRep offers personalized help scrubbing unwanted info from the internet through hands-on support. Pricing starts at $500 per case.

• Incogni: Incogni scours public records, data brokers, sites with leaked credentials and more to remove your details. Plans begin at $348 per year.

• Privacy Duck: Privacy Duck helps clean up your digital footprint by submitting data removal requests on your behalf. Packages start at $99 one-time fee.

• Reputation: Reputation offers personalized help monitoring mentions of your name online and getting unwanted content removed. Call for custom quote.

• NomoRobo: NomoRobo blocks robocalls and telemarketing calls to your phone to reduce unwanted communications. Plans start at $1.99 per month.

• Killi: Killi lets you take control of your data and sell it directly to vetted companies rather than having it sold behind your back.

Maintaining Online Privacy Long-Term

Once you‘ve removed personal details from the internet, there are ongoing habits that can maintain greater privacy:

• Use different emails/usernames for each account so that breaches are limited instead of exposing everything tied to one email address.

• Turn on two-factor authentication (2FA) across accounts whenever possible to prevent unauthorized logins even if your password is compromised.

• Frequently change passwords and don‘t reuse the same password between accounts to improve security. Consider using a password manager app to simplify this.

• Limit what you share online across social media, forums and other websites where your details become public. Don‘t post addresses, birthdates, schedules or other sensitive info.

• Use privacy settings on browsers like Chrome and Firefox to disable cookies/tracking and enable protections like anti-fingerprinting. These settings prevent companies from monitoring your online activities.

• Leverage privacy services like VirtualPrivateYou to automatically scrub your info from data brokers on an ongoing basis, not just once. Plans start at $9 per month.

• Monitor your online presence a few times per year for new leaks of your data or details you want removed. Being proactive is key for long-term privacy.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can you remove everything about yourself from the internet?

It‘s virtually impossible to remove all traces of yourself from the internet. There will likely always be crumbs here and there. However, you can delete the vast majority of personal details with persistence.

How do I remove my address from Google?

To remove your address from Google search results, use Google‘s removal tool if the content meets eligibility requirements. Or contact the site owner listing your address and request they take it down.

How do I delete my cell phone number from the internet?

Start by conducting a people search for your phone number on major data broker sites. Opt out of any that have your number listed. Then scour forums, review sites and anywhere else you may have posted the number publicly and delete it.

Is it illegal to post someone‘s personal information online?

In most cases, it is perfectly legal to post someone‘s publicly available data like an address or phone number online. However, posting non-public or confidential information like Social Security numbers, credit card details or medical records is illegal.

Can you remove mugshots from the internet?

While difficult, it is possible to get mugshots removed in some cases. Start by contacting the sites hosting your photo and requesting removal. For news outlets, you may need to file a lawsuit arguing why the photo invades your privacy. As a last resort, hire an online reputation management service for help.

How do I remove my address from BeenVerified?

Go to BeenVerified‘s opt out page and enter your information. Complete the CAPTCHA challenge. Then check your email inbox for a verification link to confirm your request and remove your address. It takes about 72 hours to process.

How do I delete my Spokeo account?

Spokeo doesn‘t have traditional user accounts. However, you can remove any information Spokeo has collected on you by going to their opt-out form, entering your details and submitting the request. It may take a few weeks to be fully scrubbed.

Bottom Line

Your personal information is easily spread across the internet without your consent once you begin sharing details about yourself online. That‘s why it‘s so important to be proactive in removing any data you want private before it falls into the wrong hands.

With a methodical approach using the steps in this guide, you can delete the vast majority of your digital footprint from people search sites, social media, data brokers and other locations online. While not foolproof, this gives you much greater control over your privacy in the digital age.