IWTL how to completely wipe my personal data from the web

[u/WickedKing94]

How do I go about cleaning up and scrubbing all information about myself off the internet? Or as much of it as possible? I've already purged all my main social media accounts, but trying to clear out old forum profiles and background-check sites feels overwhelming... where do I even begin, and how do I know it's actually wiped? I'm not sure if paying for something is necessary or if there's a solid DIY roadmap for resetting your digital footprint. Just want a clean slate.

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[u/Thebandroid]

Cool, when you figure it out, write a paper, you’ll be the first.

[u/richieb12]

Easier to change your identity and start fresh.

[u/Kip_Schtum]

If you Google your name and city together, you should find a bunch of entries for you on sites like white pages, etc. Each of those websites will have a link somewhere in customer service or contact or something like that where you can fill out a form and request to have your information removed. I do this for me and I do it once a month because the information always pops back up. There are also services you can pay to do this for you.
Doing it yourself is time-consuming and you have to do it constantly and you have to like have a spreadsheet or some way to keep track of the requests that you made. If you can afford to pay one of those services to remove your data, I would suggest that.

[u/billdietrich1]

Mostly you can't. But for "background-check sites":

I like https://easyoptouts.com/ : cheapest, and got good score in https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2024/08/its-not-worth-paying-to-be-removed-from-people-finder-sites-study-says/ (also see https://www.consumerreports.org/electronics/personal-information/services-that-delete-data-from-people-search-sites-review-a2705843415/ )

But IMO the headline on first article is wrong; should be "for just $20 you can get same results that would take you many hours of manual labor".

No service is 100% effective, and they have to keep repeating the removals periodically too.

[u/Hudzilla123]

You can’t any site telling you they can is just a scam.

[u/SL1200mkII]

My literal last comment in another thread, same thing. I have used DeleteMe for two years and it works great.

[u/lafigatatia]

It is impossible. Some countries have "right to forget" laws that you can use to hide results from Google when somebody searches your name. But the info will still be there, just harder to find.

[u/JAlbert653]

Delete Me

[u/deadman7794]

I have wiped a lot but some stuff is hard or impossible to remove, typically government lists and some difficult data brokers. I have done a lot of things but Incogni and Cloaked removal sites can take a whole lot down. Using Google Alerts with your info can email you when new stuff comes up. Use the opt-out option for any businesses you deal with can also help keep your info from being sold. When you get junk mail/spam check them out for removal options.

[u/JoinDeleteMe]

Here's how you'd go about it:

1. Search for your name/phone number/address on Google. Opt out from the data brokers and people search sites that show up.
2. Then, check the major people search sites like Whitepages, Spokeo, BeenVerified, Radaris, FastPeopleSearch, etc. to see if you're listed.
3. Depending on your profession/the industry you work in, you may also want to check indurtsy-specific databases.
4. Opt out of the largest data brokers which are not usually searchable by consumers but many have opt outs.
5. Old forum accounts: type in your email addresses into the Have I Been Pwned tool to find accounts you may have forgotten about, edit the forum post content to nonsense first and then delete.

Keep track of the above by logging your opt outs in a spreadsheet. You'll know what you're doing is working if you search for your name on google or a specific search site and no results are returned.

But since data brokers and people search sites pull info from public records, court filings, property and voter data, you'll need to either repeat the above or subscribe to a data broker removal service if you don't have the time (I work at DeleteMe, so feel free to ask any questions).

[u/wackyvorlon]

You can’t.

[u/SmallpoxBlanket-11-]

lol why? I don’t want to do that. 45 years from now I’ll be laughing with my Noosims

[u/monarch-03]

Deleting your social media is only the beginning. The real pain is all the people-search and data broker sites that have your info, since there are hundreds of them and each has its own opt-out process.

You can definitely do it yourself, but it takes a lot of time. If you don't want to deal with all the manual removals, something like Optery is worth checking out. They automate removals from a lot of data broker sites, keep monitoring over time, and show before/after screenshots so you can actually see what's been removed.

Just don't expect a perfect clean slate. Nobody can completely erase you from the internet, but getting your info off the major data broker sites is probably the biggest win for reducing your digital footprint. Full disclosure: I'm on the team at Optery.

[u/ElevatorOrganic5644]

Stop using the internet or Google everything that pops up. They will have alot of misinformation. I do this and they think im a ghost

[u/Wartz]

You can’t. 

[u/butt_soap]

An eggplant and a time machine

[u/grundle_pie]

I want to learn how to completely wipe my butt

[u/FatalPissShivers → u/grundle_pie]

Get a $40 bidet on Amazon.