How to Remove Your Data from Data Brokers

By Øyvind · Published June 1, 2026

Most people are unaware that a whole industry exists to compile, package and sell their personal information. Data brokers aggregate your name, addresses, phone numbers, relatives, purchase history and more from public records and online activity, then sell it to marketers, background-check sites and anyone who pays. The result is the personal details that show up when someone searches your name — and the raw material for spam, scams and worse.

You have two routes to reduce this. The DIY route is to identify the major brokers and submit opt-out requests to each one individually — genuinely effective but tedious, and the listings often reappear, so it must be repeated. The automated route uses a removal service such as MyDataRemoval, which submits and re-submits opt-outs across many brokers on your behalf and monitors for re-listing. The trade-off is cost versus the considerable time the manual process takes.

Set realistic expectations: no service removes you completely or permanently, because new data is constantly generated and brokers re-list. The honest goal is to substantially reduce your exposure and keep it suppressed over time, not to vanish entirely.

Data removal is one layer of the broader approach in protecting your privacy online. It works best alongside the habits that stop new data leaking — a password manager, two-factor authentication, and a VPN to limit IP-level tracking.

Reduce and maintain rather than expecting to disappear — removal is ongoing, not one-and-done. General guidance.