How to delete yourself from the internet for good in 2025? A detailed 10-step guide

Can you delete yourself from the internet completely? 

Unfortunately, you cannot delete yourself from the internet completely. You cannot erase everything. Government public records, certain court records, or news articles with your name aren’t going away. And search engines like Google or Bing won’t remove results they deem of public interest.

But here’s the key: You don’t have to eliminate everything to make a real difference. By removing the bulk of your data from easy-to-find places — social media accounts, data broker sites, unused apps, and old email accounts — you’ll disappear from the casual searches that matter most.

If your aim is to “delete yourself from the internet and become a digital ghost,” think “minimize visibility” rather than “perfect erasure.” It’s about making sure your personal details don’t show up on the first page of Google search results or get sold by a data broker. That’s achievable.

And here’s more good news: Most of the work can be done for free. You’ll need time and persistence, but you don’t need to pay anyone to start. Of course, paid services exist to automate the grind, but we’ll get to that later.

Why should you delete yourself from the internet? 

Even if you can’t wipe every trace of yourself from the internet, shrinking your digital footprint is worth the effort. The more personal information online, the easier it is for others to use it against you. Criminals can combine details like your email address, birthdate, and address to commit identity theft, opening credit lines or hijacking existing accounts in your name. Scammers rely on the same exposed data for phishing campaigns and fake offers, fueling the wave of internet fraud that costs Americans billions each year. Excessive exposure also makes you vulnerable to doxing, where bad actors publish your home address or workplace as harassment.

The risks go beyond crime. Old social posts can resurface in job searches, cached search results may reveal outdated addresses, and data brokers continue to build new profiles to sell to marketers, insurers, or anyone willing to pay. By cutting off these sources, you reduce spam calls and creepy targeted ads, protect your reputation, and make your personal information much harder to exploit. In short, deleting yourself from the internet isn’t about disappearing. It’s about taking back control of what others can see. And to see just how much is exposed, start by understanding what counts as personally identifiable information (PII) and learning how to protect your personal information online.

Potential risks and threats of being on the internet

Every exposed fragment of your digital footprint — whether it’s an old phone number in search results, an address listed by data brokers, or credentials leaked in data breaches — increases the odds of that information being twisted against you. The most common risks include:

• Identity theft: Criminals can use details like your birth date, address, or phone number to impersonate you, open accounts, or hijack existing ones.
• Phishing attacks: Publicly available personal information makes fraudulent emails, texts, or calls far more convincing, raising the chance you’ll click or share sensitive data.
• Malware and ransomware: Oversharing online and careless browsing habits increase the likelihood of downloading malicious files that can lock or steal your data.
• Data breaches: Companies leak customer records, exposing login credentials, contact details, and purchase histories that can be exploited or sold.
• Online scams and fraud: Details gathered by data brokers and marketers feed targeted scams, from fake tech support calls to investment fraud.
• Cyberbullying and harassment (including doxing): When personally identifiable information (PII) such as your home address or workplace is easy to find, bad actors can publish it to intimidate or harass you.

Benefits of deleting yourself from the internet

Cutting down your digital footprint doesn’t erase your information, but it changes the game. When less of your personal information online is exposed, you close off the easiest pathways criminals, advertisers, and strangers use to peer into your life. The upside to deleting yourself from the internet can be both practical and immediate:

• Lower risk of identity crimes: By stripping your data from data brokers and closing unused online accounts, you make it far harder for criminals to piece together the information needed for identity theft. No exposed address or phone number means fewer ways for someone to impersonate you.
• Stronger defense against fraud: Reducing what’s visible in search results means fraudsters have less to work with when tailoring phishing campaigns or internet fraud schemes. Without personal details, their messages lose credibility — and you’re less likely to fall for them.
• Greater privacy and control: Removing accounts, posts, and broker profiles limits how much advertisers or insurers can profile you. Instead of your habits being packaged and sold, you decide what information is public.
• Fewer unwanted intrusions: Clearing your name from people search sites and marketing lists cuts back on robocalls, spam texts, and those unnervingly precise ads that seem to follow you around.
• A cleaner reputation: Suppressing outdated search results and purging old content ensures that when someone looks you up, they see only what you want them to see — not embarrassing posts or irrelevant history.
• Easier long-term upkeep: Once the heavy lifting is done, maintaining your privacy is manageable. With fewer accounts and less exposed data, keeping your digital footprint small becomes a routine rather than an overwhelming project.

How to delete yourself from the internet 

The process of deleting yourself from the internet isn’t about a single tool or quick fix. It requires a set of deliberate steps that, together, shrink your digital footprint, strip out exposed personal information, and keep it from resurfacing in search results or data broker files. Some actions, like deleting old accounts, you’ll only do once. Others, such as monitoring leaks or filing fresh opt-out requests, are part of an ongoing process.

This guide sets out 10 steps that cover most major exposures: 

1. Conduct a digital footprint audit
2. Delete or secure social media accounts
3. Hide or remove old posts and comments
4. Review and uninstall unused apps
5. Remove old online accounts
6. Opt out of data brokers and people-search sites
7. Use paid services to remove data from brokers
8. Submit removal requests
9. Delete or deactivate old email accounts and profiles
10. Monitor your online presence with identity theft tools

Done together, these moves reduce your visibility and make sure the information that matters most stays private. For ongoing everyday hygiene, you can also build simple habits from our guide on how to protect your personal information online. Below are 10 detailed steps to help you delete yourself from the internet.

1. Conduct a digital footprint audit

The first step in learning how to delete yourself from the internet is knowing exactly what’s out there. Start by searching your full name in quotes on Google and other search engines, then add details like your city, old employers, or schools to see what surfaces. Run the same test with your email addresses and phone numbers — you’ll often uncover forgotten accounts or old mentions that still show up in search results.

Next, check major people search sites such as Whitepages, Spokeo, or MyLife. These directories often display your home address, relatives, or age, all pulled together from public records and data brokers. 

Don’t stop there. Log out of your social media accounts and view your profiles as a stranger would. You might be surprised by how much personal information online is visible by default. You should also search and document old forum posts, blog comments, or profiles under past usernames.

Keep a spreadsheet to track everything: the URL, the type of information exposed, and what action you plan to take (delete, edit, or request removal). This checklist becomes your roadmap through next steps, and will make the process of closing accounts and stripping identifiers much more manageable.

2. Delete or secure social media accounts

Social platforms are often the largest part of your digital footprint, exposing everything from birthdays to workplaces to your entire friend network. If you don’t use an account anymore, the safest move is to delete it. On Facebook, that means deactivating your Facebook profile first. Then, after a 30-day grace period, the account is permanently deleted if you don’t log back in. Twitter (now X) and Instagram follow similar rules, giving you time to change your mind before wiping data.

If you keep an account active, strip out as much Facebook information and other profile data as you can. Hide email addresses, phone numbers, and friend lists, and make posts visible to friends only. Disable external indexing so your profile doesn’t appear in search results. On LinkedIn, tighten privacy by limiting what non-connections can see.

Think of this step as deciding which parts of your social media presence are worth keeping and which only put your personal information online at risk. Once you’ve cut them down, you’ll have already removed a huge portion of what people — or data brokers — can find with a casual search.

3. Hide or remove old posts and comments

Even if you keep some social media accounts, the posts you’ve made over the years may reveal more than you’d like. A ranty Facebook update, a Reddit comment that mentions your employer, or a blog entry with your full name can all show up in search results years later. Each fragment adds to your digital footprint, and some may even include private information like addresses or phone numbers.

Start by reviewing your own feeds. On Facebook, use “Manage Posts” to bulk-hide or delete. On X, run advanced searches with your handle and keywords (like your city or workplace) to find posts worth erasing. Other platforms and forums usually let you delete or edit old comments. Where they don’t, consider anonymizing your username.

For content you can’t control (such as a blog post written about you) contact the site admin and request removal, especially if personal information is exposed. Once it’s gone, use Google’s “Remove outdated content” tool to clear cached entries so the material no longer appears in search results.

4. Review and uninstall unused apps

Unused apps often retain access to sensitive data long after you’ve stopped opening them. A flashlight app that asks for microphone access, a game that constantly tracks your location, or a shopping app storing your address and payment details are all examples of hidden risks.

Go through your phone and remove apps you don’t use. Don’t just delete the shortcut — open the app first and look for the “delete account” or “remove data” options to wipe your profile from the developer’s servers. For apps you keep, review your app permissions and revoke anything unnecessary. On both iOS and Android, you can block location tracking, deny microphone use, or prevent apps from scanning contacts unless they truly need it.

Don’t forget about your browser. Extensions can monitor every page you visit, creating detailed logs of your browsing habits. Uninstall any extension you don’t recognize or no longer trust and reset your browser settings to cut off excessive tracking.

5. Remove old online accounts

Every forgotten login is a doorway into your past — and sometimes into sensitive data you’d rather keep private. Old accounts created for dating sites, online forums, newsletters, or one-off purchases often sit abandoned but still store personal information online. In some cases, they also hold financial information such as that of saved payment cards or old billing addresses.

Start by hunting them down. Search your inbox for phrases like “welcome to,” “your account,” or “password reset.” These emails reveal sign-ups you may have forgotten. If you use a password manager, scan your stored logins to jog your memory. Even your browser’s saved password list can help you uncover stale accounts linked to your name.

Once you find them, delete them if possible. Many services hide the option, so check account settings carefully. If deletion isn’t offered, clear the profile of any identifying details: Replace your name with a placeholder, remove addresses, and delete stored cards. For online shopping accounts in particular, double-check that no financial information remains.

6. Opt out of data brokers and people-search sites 

Even if you delete old accounts, a lot of your personal information online will still circulate through data brokers. These companies scrape from public records, buy from marketers, and package the results into profiles sold on people search sites like Spokeo, Whitepages, BeenVerified, and MyLife. That’s why typing your name into Google often shows your home address, age, relatives, and past employers neatly arranged in the top search results.

The good news is that most sites allow opt-out requests. The bad news: Every platform has its own hoops to jump through. Whitepages asks you to paste in the profile URL, then confirm by phone. Spokeo sends a confirmation email. BeenVerified makes you fill out a form for each listing. And MyLife may ask for ID verification before removal. To make matters worse, even after you opt out, your details often reappear later — which is why this step is part of an ongoing routine.

7. Use paid services to remove data from brokers 

Manually filing opt out requests with dozens of data brokers is possible, but it eats up hours and has to be repeated regularly. That’s because brokers often relist your personal information online after a few months, forcing you back through the same tedious forms. If you don’t have the time or patience for this grind, paid removal services can handle it for you.

Tools like Incogni automate the process by sending and tracking requests to dozens of data broker sites on your behalf, and then following up if your data reappears. Instead of monitoring every directory yourself, you outsource the job and let the system repeat it as often as needed.

For stronger coverage, consider the NordProtect and Incogni bundle. Incogni manages the repetitive removal work across data brokers, while NordProtect adds layers of identity protection — from credit monitoring to dark web alerts — so you’ll know if your information ever leaks again. Together, they make shrinking your digital footprint a sustainable process rather than a one-off cleanup.

8. Submit removal requests

Even when you’ve deleted an account or filed an -out request, traces of your personal data can linger in Google or Bing. That’s because search engines cache pages and sometimes keep them visible long after the source is gone. The result is that old addresses, phone numbers, or even traces from data breaches can still show up in search results.

Google now offers a “Results about you” tool that lets you quickly flag entries displaying sensitive details like your home address or phone number. You can also set alerts to be notified whenever new results appear. If you’ve already removed content from a site but it still appears in Google, use the “Remove outdated content” tool to clear cached copies. Bing and other search engines offer similar forms to request removals.

Privacy laws can help. Under the GDPR in Europe and the CCPA in California, companies have to respect user requests to limit data exposure. While these frameworks don’t erase everything, they can strengthen your case when asking platforms to remove outdated or sensitive information.

9. Delete or deactivate old email accounts and profiles 

Few things expose more personally identifiable information (PII) than an email inbox. Old accounts with providers like Yahoo, Hotmail, or AOL often hold years of messages containing addresses, phone numbers, financial records, and password reset links. If an attacker gains access, that history becomes a roadmap to your identity. As we explain in our post on what someone can do with your email address, even one compromised inbox can unlock dozens of other accounts.

The best protection is to close accounts that you no longer use. Before deleting, back up important messages, then follow your provider’s termination process. Services like Gmail allow you to remove just the email service from your Google Account, while Yahoo and AOL have dedicated closure pages. Most impose a short grace period before accounts are permanently deleted, so avoid logging back in once you’ve initiated deletion.

For email addresses you decide to keep, harden them. Replace old passwords with strong, unique ones stored in a password manager, enable two-factor authentication, and purge messages containing sensitive details. By deleting or securing these old email accounts and profiles, you cut off one of the easiest entry points into your digital footprint and prevent your past from being used against you.

10. Monitor your online presence with identity theft tools

Deleting online accounts and stripping details from those accounts is powerful, but the internet is never static. New leaks appear through data breaches, old databases resurface, and your details can slip back into circulation. That’s why the last step is setting up ongoing monitoring — so you know the moment your personal data is exposed again.

Identity theft monitoring tools track whether your email addresses, passwords, or financial details show up in suspicious places. The most advanced services also scan the dark web, where stolen information is often traded. By catching exposures early, you can reset credentials or freeze accounts before criminals exploit them.

NordProtect includes seamless dark web monitoring designed for exactly this purpose. It alerts you when sensitive information tied to your identity appears where it shouldn’t, making it easier to act quickly and keep your digital footprint under control.

Think of monitoring as the final lock on the door: Even after a full cleanup, it ensures you stay ahead of threats rather than reacting after the damage is done.

Tips to reduce data collection after erasing yourself from the internet

Even after deleting your online accounts and filing opt-out requests, data collection never really stops. Websites log your clicks, apps request access to your contacts, and data brokers keep scanning for fresh details to sell. If you don’t change daily habits, your digital footprint will quietly start growing again. The following practices help cut down how much personal information gets collected in the first place, keeping your cleanup effective for longer:

• Limit how much you post on social media. Instead of sharing birthdays, trips, or work details publicly, restrict visibility to close contacts. Fewer fresh posts mean fewer openings for people search sites to index.
• Browse without leaving tracks. Incognito mode hides history on your device, but pairing it with privacy extensions blocks the trackers advertisers use to profile you across sites.
• Mask your IP address with a VPN. A VPN keeps your browsing from being linked to your household, making it harder for marketers and snoops to trace your activity.
• Use disposable or alias emails. Create throwaway addresses for one-off sign-ups. This keeps your real inbox out of spam databases and reduces how often it’s exposed in data breaches.
• Switch to encrypted messaging apps. Services like Signal or WhatsApp shield your conversations with end-to-end encryption, unlike SMS or unprotected email.
• Audit app permissions regularly. Check which apps can see your contacts, microphone, or location. If it isn’t essential to the app’s function, revoke it.
• Harden security on your devices. Regular updates, unique passwords, and two-factor authentication protect against attackers who try to compromise your devices directly.

These habits don’t erase your presence, but they slow the steady stream of personal data flowing into commercial databases and keep your digital footprint manageable.

How to delete yourself from the internet: the takeaway 

Deleting yourself from the internet doesn’t mean erasing every trace. It means cutting off the most obvious ways your personal information is exposed, sold, or abused. When you remove old accounts, strip data from people search sites, and push back against data brokers, you immediately lower your risk of fraud, identity theft, and reputational damage.

The key is consistency. Make digital audits a recurring task, refresh your opt out requests, and use monitoring tools to catch new leaks as they appear. Services like Incogni handle the repetitive removals, while NordProtect’s dark web monitoring alerts you if stolen data resurfaces. Together, they turn deletion from a one-time cleanup into a routine defense.