Data brokers are companies that collect and sell your personal information, and auditing these sites is an essential step in anyone's digital footprint analysis, especially if you are conducting it for the first time.
Spokeo pulls together information from social networks, public records, telemarketing companies and telephone directories into one searchable profile. An average Spokeo entry presents everything from your previous addresses, phone numbers, email addresses, associates and even social media profiles, accessible for a few dollars.
Spokeo is relatively straightforward in comparison to other data brokers that offer opt-outs (one link, form, verify with email and not phone call). The exact steps are below as well as options when your profile reappears.
What information does Spokeo publish about you?
- Full name, age and date-of-birth estimates
- Address history going back decades
- Phone numbers and email addresses
- Social media profiles and usernames
- Family members and associates
- Wealth, home value and lifestyle segments used for marketing
Skip the manual work
Don’t want to fill out forms and answer verification calls? AntiBridge removes your data from Spokeo and 150+ other brokers automatically.
Start automatic removalHow to opt out of Spokeo: step by step
1Locate your profile URL
Search for your own name on spokeo.com (enter your city if you have a common first name and last name). When you find your record, copy the entire url of your profile: it should be something like this: spokeo.com/John-Doe/Washington/Seattle/p123456789. Do not pay for the report, you just need the url.
2Submit the opt-out form
Visit spokeo.com/optout. Place the URL of your profile in the first box, the email address of your choice in the next box and solve the CAPTCHA. Click Remove This Listing.
3Confirm via the verification email
Spokeo will email you the verification within a few minutes (check your spam). Follow the link it provides you with to verify the account and submit the removal request. No action is taken without the verification link. This is the step most people overlook.
4Verify the listing is gone
Removals are generally executed within 24-72 hours. Maybe it is already done, try again to see if you appear. If you had more than 1 find (i.e. Multiple old addresses and/or various form of your name) try again for each URL (Spokeo removes only 1 page of results per request).
Quick reference
| Site | Opt-out method | Removal time | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| spokeo.com | Online form + email verification | 24 - 72 hours | Free |
What happens after you opt out
In Spokeo, your opt-out only tells them not to display what you submitted, not to stop what is displayed with your name. New information that differs from what you submitted - a new address, new iPhone contract, new Facebook account - is a new listing without an opt-out request from you.
Remember to check Spokeo every 2-3 months or delegate this task to an automatic removal service that will keep an eye on the site and submit additional opt-outs as soon as your information is back online.
Tired of opting out one site at a time?
Data brokers make it easy for scammers, stalkers, and identity thieves to find you. Removing yourself from 150+ sites manually takes weeks – and your information can reappear. AntiBridge handles the removals for you and keeps watch so your privacy stays protected.
Remove my info automaticallyFrequently asked questions
Does Spokeo charge for removing my information?
No. The official opt-out at spokeo.com/optout is free. Do not pay to any third-party site that says they will "unlock" the Spokeo removal for you.
How many listings can I remove?
Each opt-out submission is for 1 URL. You can make as many submissions as you want. If you have a lot of addresses from moving around, this would not be surprising, and there could easily be 3-5 different records of you.
I never used Spokeo. Why am I on it?
Spokeo builds a background profile from public records, marketing databases and scraped social data. No account is required to be listed - almost all US adults are.
Will removing my Spokeo listing hide me from other people-search sites?
No. Each data broker maintains a separate database and opt-out process. In order to be invisible to all you must individually opt out of each of their sites or use a service such as AntiBridge that encompasses 150 plus brokers simultaneously
