If a people-search site or data broker lists your name, address, phone number, or relatives, start with the company that published the exact profile. Send its official removal or deletion request first. If the company ignores the request, puts the listing back, or misrepresents its privacy controls, report it to the Federal Trade Commission or your state attorney general.

An opt-out and a deletion request do different jobs. An opt-out may stop certain sales, sharing, or targeted advertising while leaving a public profile visible. A deletion request asks the business to remove stored information, but public records, legal retention duties, and statutory exceptions can limit what disappears.

Choose the remedy that matches the problem

People-search services such as Spokeo, Intelius, Whitepages, BeenVerified, and FastPeopleSearch are not the same as marketing databases such as Acxiom or Epsilon. The site showing your address may not be the company that originally collected it, so identify the specific business before filing a complaint.

Build your evidence file first

Before submitting anything, collect the basics:

1. Search the site using your current name, former names, city, state, phone number, and email address.
2. Copy the exact profile URL for each listing. Record the name, age range, relatives, addresses, phone numbers, and other displayed details.
3. Take screenshots showing the profile and the date. Avoid capturing unnecessary sensitive information.
4. Save the company's privacy policy, removal instructions, confirmation emails, ticket numbers, and rejection messages.
5. Note the date, method, and wording of every request.

Use the broker's official domain. Sponsored search results and third-party removal pages can collect extra details without actually representing the broker.

Only give enough information to match the listing. If verification requires an identity document, ask what is necessary, redact unrelated parts, and don't email a full Social Security number.

Submit the deletion or opt-out request

For each broker:

1. Open the privacy center, privacy policy, or listing-removal page on the company's official website.
2. Choose the correct option. A remove-listing form may be separate from an opt-out of sale or targeted advertising.
3. Enter the minimum matching details, including the profile URL and a current or former location if needed.
4. Complete any email or phone verification.
5. Save the confirmation page, request ID, and date submitted.
6. Revisit the original profile URL after the stated response period. Test it in a private browser window and from a second device if practical.

If the business asks for more verification, it should explain why. A broker may keep some information for legal, security, fraud-prevention, or other permitted reasons. If you get a vague refusal, ask it to identify what it kept and the exception it relied on.

California's CCPA guidance from the Attorney General describes a general 45-day response period for a verifiable consumer request, with extensions in limited circumstances. Don't paste that deadline into Colorado, Virginia, or Texas requests because those laws use different coverage tests, request procedures, and appeal rules.

State-specific data broker requests

State privacy laws usually apply only to covered businesses and may contain exceptions. A broker can argue that it doesn't meet a law's coverage threshold or that a particular record is exempt. Use the state where you live, not the state where the broker is incorporated.

California: CCPA, CPRA, and DROP

California residents can request deletion of personal information held by a covered business and can opt out of the sale or sharing of personal information where the law applies. The CPRA's amendments to the CCPA took effect on January 1, 2023. The California Attorney General also recognizes user-enabled Global Privacy Control signals for certain sale or sharing opt-outs.

California's Delete Request and Opt-out Platform, known as DROP, began taking requests on January 1, 2026. It lets California residents send a single deletion request to registered data brokers. The state's privacy agency reported more than 500,000 registrations and said brokers have reported deleting tens of millions of records; see the official California DROP information for current instructions and status.

Registration is a one-time process that the agency says generally takes less than 10 minutes, but DROP isn't an instant eraser. It may not cover an unregistered site, a public-record source, or information a business must retain. Keep the confirmation and check the portal rather than assuming every copy disappeared.

A GPC signal also isn't a deletion request. It communicates an opt-out preference for applicable sale, sharing, or targeted advertising, while a separate deletion request addresses stored information.

Colorado: CPA and universal opt-outs

Colorado's Privacy Act recognizes universal opt-out mechanisms. Covered businesses have been required to recognize approved universal opt-out mechanisms since July 1, 2024, according to this Colorado universal opt-out overview.

A browser-based GPC signal can be useful for communicating an opt-out to participating businesses. It doesn't prove that a people-search profile was deleted. Submit a separate deletion request when removal is your goal, and check whether the broker provides an appeal process.

Virginia and Texas: CDPA and TDPSA

Virginia's Consumer Data Protection Act and Texas's Data Privacy and Security Act may provide deletion and opt-out rights when the business and request fall within the law's scope. Use the broker's state-specific privacy form or written request instructions, identify your state of residence, and save the response.

Don't copy a California deadline into a Virginia or Texas complaint. Check the business's privacy notice and the current guidance from your state's attorney general for response, extension, and appeal procedures. A regulatory cure period, if one applies during enforcement, isn't automatically the deadline a business owes you for completing a consumer request.

File an FTC data broker complaint

The FTC complaint route is useful when a company appears to engage in an unfair or deceptive practice, misrepresents its privacy controls, ignores repeated requests, or sells sensitive information in a way that may violate federal law.

Before reporting, make the direct request if it is safe and practical. The record of your attempt gives the FTC clearer facts.

1. Go to ReportFraud.gov.
2. Identify the broker, website, profile URL, and the information displayed.
3. State what you requested, when you requested it, and how the company responded.
4. Describe the conduct in specific terms, such as "the profile remained publicly accessible after a confirmed removal" or "the opt-out page required information unrelated to verification."
5. Explain any risk or harm without exaggerating it.
6. Follow the form's instructions for supporting documents and save any confirmation number.

Form labels can change, so choose the closest privacy, data-use, deceptive-practice, or illegal-business-practice category rather than relying on a particular menu name.

Don't include a full Social Security number, financial account number, or unnecessary identity document in an online report. The FTC's contact guidance explains how to handle material that must be treated as confidential.

An FTC report is an enforcement tip, not a private dispute process. The FTC may use reports to identify patterns and decide where to act, but it normally doesn't serve as your removal agent or guarantee a response from the broker.

Complain to your state attorney general

Contact the consumer-protection or privacy office of your state attorney general when a broker:

• Refuses a request without explaining the reason or applicable exception.
• Ignores the request after the relevant response period.
• Claims to honor opt-outs but continues the same covered use.
• Makes the removal process misleading, needlessly difficult, or inconsistent with its privacy notice.
• Republishes a profile after confirming deletion.

Include a short timeline, the profile URL, copies of your request and the company's response, and the state law or company policy you believe applies. Redact identity documents and account numbers before attaching them.

An attorney general can review complaints and may contact or investigate a business, but it can't promise a particular outcome in an individual case. Don't send duplicate complaints to multiple offices unless an agency directs you to do so.

Request template for a broker

Adapt the wording to your state and the option offered by the website. Use a deletion request and a sale-or-sharing opt-out as separate requests if the form separates them.

Subject: Request to delete and opt out of data processing

Dear Privacy Team,

I am a resident of [state]. I am requesting deletion of personal information associated with the following listing:

• Name:
• City and state:
• Phone or email used to match the listing:
• Profile URL:
• Request date:

Please delete the personal information associated with this profile as required by applicable law and your privacy policy. Separately, please opt me out of applicable sale, sharing, targeted advertising, or profiling activities.

Please tell me if additional verification is required. If you retain any information, identify the category retained, the reason or legal exception, and the available appeal instructions.

Please confirm receipt of this request and provide a request or case number. Use the information in this message only to verify and process the request.

Sincerely,
[Name]
[Preferred contact method]

Use a law-specific opening only when it is accurate:

• California: "I am a California resident requesting deletion under the CCPA, as amended by the CPRA."
• Colorado: "I am a Colorado resident requesting the deletion rights available under the CPA and opting out of applicable processing."
• Virginia or Texas: "I am a [Virginia or Texas] resident requesting the rights available under the [CDPA or TDPSA] and the company's privacy notice."

You don't need to cite a statute section if you're unsure of the number. A clear factual request is better than a letter containing an incorrect legal citation.

Opt out of Spokeo, Intelius, Whitepages, and similar sites

The exact page names and ownership of people-search services change. The basic workflow is usually the same:

1. Search the broker for your listing.
2. Copy the profile URL and note every version that matches you.
3. Use the site's official opt-out, remove-listing, or privacy-request page.
4. Submit the email verification or other confirmation step.
5. Save proof of submission and check that the URL no longer displays the profile.
6. Search again later for your name, phone number, and former address.

For Spokeo, Whitepages, Intelius, BeenVerified, and FastPeopleSearch, focus on the individual public listing. Removing one profile may not remove an affiliate listing or a record held by a separate company.

For Acxiom and Epsilon, look for the company's marketing-data privacy choices. A marketing opt-out may stop certain uses without removing a public people-search listing, so confirm what the request actually covers.

Profiles can return after removal when a broker receives new data or republishes an old record. Recheck periodically and keep the earlier confirmation if you need to show a pattern of noncompliance.

Should you pay for an automated removal service?

Paid removal services can save time if you have many listings or want recurring monitoring. They can't override a legal exception, erase a public record at its source, or guarantee that every copy will stay down.

Don't choose a service based only on a large coverage number or a claimed success rate. Ask:

• Which exact sites and affiliates are included?
• Does the service submit deletion requests, opt-outs, or both?
• Will it show screenshots, request dates, and confirmations?
• Does monitoring renew automatically?
• Can you cancel online, and where are the refund terms?
• What personal information or identity documents will it store?
• How can you delete your account and the information you supplied?

A separate email address can make tracking easier. Use a unique password, and avoid giving a removal company more information than its privacy process requires.

Escalation limits and common mistakes

A DMCA notice usually isn't the right tool

The Digital Millennium Copyright Act addresses copyright infringement. It generally doesn't create a removal process for an ordinary people-search profile containing your name, address, or phone number. Use the broker's privacy process instead unless the dispute actually concerns copyrighted material.

A demand letter doesn't create a legal deadline

A written letter can document your request, but writing "respond within 45 days" doesn't create that deadline in every state or for every company. Use the deadline that applies to your jurisdiction and request type.

California residents should also avoid assuming that an ignored opt-out automatically creates a lawsuit. The California Attorney General's CCPA guidance says that, before a permitted CCPA suit, a consumer must give written notice identifying the alleged violations and allow 30 days for a written cure response. The CCPA's private-action rules are narrower than its consumer-request rights.

Don't confuse removal with correction

If a company supplied information for a credit, employment, housing, or insurance decision, a consumer-report dispute may be a separate issue. A standard people-search opt-out may hide a page without correcting the underlying report or notifying the company that used it.

Use a simple follow-up schedule

• Day 0: Save the listing and submit the request.
• After any verification email: Complete it and save the confirmation.
• After the applicable response period: Check the profile and send a concise follow-up.
• If the refusal continues: Request the reason, ask about appeal rights, and file with the appropriate regulator.
• Later: Recheck the broker and its affiliates, especially after a move, name change, or new phone number.

FAQ

Does an FTC complaint remove my information?

No. It alerts the FTC to possible unlawful or deceptive conduct. You still need to submit the deletion or opt-out request to the broker and use a state complaint route when appropriate.

Does Global Privacy Control delete a data broker profile?

Usually not. GPC is a browser-based opt-out signal for covered sale, sharing, or targeted advertising activities. It's different from a request to delete stored personal information.

Can a broker refuse to delete my data?

It may be able to retain some information because of a legal exception, security or fraud-prevention need, public-record source, or lack of coverage under the law you cited. Ask for the specific reason and any appeal process.

What if the profile returns after removal?

Save the new URL and compare it with your earlier confirmation. Submit another official request, identify the prior case number, and report the repeated republication to the relevant regulator if the conduct appears deceptive or violates an applicable request.

Pick one exact profile URL, submit the official request, save the confirmation, and set a reminder to recheck the URL after the stated response period.