# Free people-search and data-broker removal guide

**Verified November 10, 2026.** Published by Panda Federation at https://pandafederation.com/data-broker-removal/

_Not legal advice. This page is a research guide built from official sources and the sites' own pages, checked on the date shown. It does not apply any law to your situation. For advice, talk to a licensed attorney in your state._

## Order of steps

1. **Inventory first.** List the emails, phone numbers and old accounts you still control. Search each inbox for sign-up and marketing mail to find forgotten accounts.
2. **Delete old accounts while you can still sign in.** Some sites only accept deletion from a signed-in session. Finish those before you close the email address that gets their codes.
3. **Find your listings and confirm they are you.** Common names pull up other people. Only opt out of a record that is actually yours.
4. **Opt out at the official link, in your own browser.** Use the links below. Captchas often fail in automated or remote browsers, so open them yourself.
5. **Click verification emails right away.** Links commonly expire in 24 hours, and some much sooner. One in our testing expired in about 15 minutes.
6. **Save the receipt.** Keep the confirmation email or screenshot. Log the result from that message, not from memory. A reply that says denied is easy to misread as done.
7. **Recheck later.** Look again after the window the site gives (often 3 days), then every month or two. Listings can come back when new public records arrive.

## Pitfalls

- Never pay a people-search site to remove you. Their opt-outs are free.
- Delete linked accounts before you delete an old email address.
- Where you live matters. Many sites only grant formal privacy rights to residents of states with a comprehensive privacy law. Everyone else gets a courtesy opt-out, if that.
- Most state laws exclude publicly available information, such as government records. That is what many listings are built from, so a legal deletion right may not force a takedown.
- Do not misstate your state of residence on a form.
- If an account-deletion email tells you not to sign back in, don't. Signing in can cancel the deletion on some sites.

## Official opt-out links

Status key: **Loaded** = Page loaded in our check on the verified date.; **Bot check (open in your browser)** = Our automated check hit a bot or captcha wall. The address is the site's own opt-out path; open it in your own browser.; **Court/domain notice — skip** = The domain no longer runs a people-search site. Skip it.; **Unreachable as of November 10, 2026** = Could not connect on the verified date. Retry later.

### Opt out here

| Site | Link | Status | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Spokeo | https://www.spokeo.com/optout | Loaded | Email verification finishes the request. Click the link promptly. |
| Anywho | https://www.anywho.com/optout | Loaded | In our check this address redirected to Spokeo's opt-out page. |
| BeenVerified | https://www.beenverified.com/app/optout/search | Bot check (open in your browser) | Redirects to /svc/optout/search/. Email verification finishes the request. |
| PeopleConnect Suppression Center (Intelius family) | https://suppression.peopleconnect.us/ | Loaded | Free suppression portal for PeopleConnect-owned people-search sites. Do the email step in one sitting: a link in our testing expired in about 15 minutes. |
| Intelius / Addresses.com | https://www.intelius.com/privacy-center/ | Loaded | Addresses.com's footer link 'Exercise My Data Privacy Rights' points here. The old addresses.com/optout path returned 404. |
| PeopleFinders | https://www.peoplefinders.com/opt-out | Loaded | Form-based. It may ask for details such as a phone number and birth date to match your record. |
| SearchPeopleFree | https://www.searchpeoplefree.com/opt-out | Loaded | Emails a link to the form (link valid 24 hours). After you validate, the page says you have 30 minutes to remove your record. Allow 3 days. |
| Whitepages | https://www.whitepages.com/suppression-requests | Loaded | Five-step suppression form. Paste the URL of your listing. |
| MyLife | https://www.mylife.com/privacyrequest | Loaded | Page titled 'MyLife Opt-Out Form'. The form is embedded; allow scripts if it looks blank. |
| ThatsThem | https://thatsthem.com/optout | Bot check (open in your browser) | Open in your own browser. |
| Nuwber | https://nuwber.com/removal/link | Bot check (open in your browser) | Cloudflare blocks are common, sometimes in ordinary browsers too. Try another network, such as phone data. |
| IDCrawl | https://idcrawl.com/remove-my-information | Bot check (open in your browser) | Asks for the URL of the IDCrawl page that lists you, then emails a link. |
| CocoFinder | https://cocofinder.com/remove-my-info | Bot check (open in your browser) | Open in your own browser. |
| PeopleSearchNow | https://www.peoplesearchnow.com/opt-out | Bot check (open in your browser) | Open in your own browser. |
| TruePeopleSearch | https://www.truepeoplesearch.com/removal | Bot check (open in your browser) | Open in your own browser. Often grouped with the sites above; we could not read its current policy page. |
| CyberBackgroundChecks | https://www.cyberbackgroundchecks.com/removal | Bot check (open in your browser) | Open in your own browser. Often grouped with the sites above; we could not read its current policy page. |
| FamilyTreeNow | https://www.familytreenow.com/optout | Bot check (open in your browser) | Open in your own browser. Its opt-out runs from the record page and confirms by email. |

### Rights depend on your state

SmartBackgroundChecks, USPhonebook and FastPeopleSearch publish near-identical privacy notices. They say your privacy rights depend on your state of residence and point residents of states with comprehensive privacy laws to a supplemental notice. They take requests through a web form or by phone. They also say their data is publicly available information, which they consider outside state privacy laws, and that they apply opt-outs to it as a courtesy. If you live in a state without a comprehensive law, such as Arizona, expect a formal privacy request to be refused. The opt-out form is still worth trying.

| Site | Link | Status | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| SmartBackgroundChecks | https://www.smartbackgroundchecks.com/optout | Loaded | Emailed form link expires in 24 hours. Allow 3 days. Privacy rights depend on your state of residence. Phone on its privacy notice: 800-571-0614. |
| USPhonebook | https://www.usphonebook.com/removal | Loaded | Same 24-hour link and 3-day wording. Privacy rights depend on your state of residence. Phone on its privacy notice: 888-747-4095. |
| FastPeopleSearch | https://www.fastpeoplesearch.com/optout | Loaded | The older /removal path redirects here. Privacy rights depend on your state of residence. Phone on its privacy notice: (866) 679-8725. |

### Official state tool

| Site | Link | Status | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| California DROP (official, CA residents) | https://consumer.drop.privacy.ca.gov/ | Loaded | One verified request to registered data brokers. California residents only. |

### Skip these

| Site | Link | Status | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Radaris | https://radaris.com/ | Court/domain notice — skip | Domain shows 'This Domain Has Been Transferred by Court Order' (Atlas Data Privacy Corporation v. Radaris.com, N.J. Super. Ct., Middlesex County, MID-L-000847-24; default judgment dated August 27, 2026, per the notice). No search and no opt-out. Reporting says the judgment is being challenged. |
| Rehold | https://rehold.com/ | Court/domain notice — skip | Same court-order transfer notice as Radaris. |
| PeekYou | https://peekyou.com/ | Court/domain notice — skip | Domain shows a 'Domain Update' notice: now controlled by Atlas Data Privacy Corporation after a settlement (N.J. Super. Ct., Essex County, ESX-L-003299-25). No search and no opt-out. |
| ClustrMaps | https://clustrmaps.com/bl/opt-out | Unreachable as of November 10, 2026 | Connection failed on November 10, 2026. Retry later. |

## Tracking checklist

| Site | Link used | Date sent | Verify email clicked | Receipt saved | Result | Recheck date | Still listed? |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |

State-by-state rights: https://pandafederation.com/data-broker-removal/#state-map (data: https://pandafederation.com/data-broker-removal/state-law-map.json). Links as data: https://pandafederation.com/data-broker-removal/optout-sites.json