People Search Opt Out List: 10 Major Sites Compared

If you've Googled your own name and found an address, phone number or relatives' names on a stranger's screen, you've met a people search site. The FTC describes them as a type of data broker: "People search sites, also known as people finder sites, collect personal information about us from a variety of sources, compile it into a report, and sell those reports to anyone willing to pay for them." This people search opt out list compares ten widely used ones — Whitepages, Spokeo, TruePeopleSearch, FastPeopleSearch, BeenVerified, TruthFinder, Intelius, Instant Checkmate, MyLife and Radaris — using what each operator told California regulators, cross-checked against FTC guidance and independent reporting on how the opt-outs actually work.

The 10 sites, compared

Several of these sites are legally the same filer. PeopleConnect Holdings, Inc.'s subsidiaries — TruthFinder, Instant Checkmate and Intelius — register separately with California's data broker registry, but a single free suppression request removes a listing from all three plus USSearch, according to Recording Law's walkthrough of the PeopleConnect network. We found no California registry entry for Radaris, and could not independently confirm its registration status with the state.

Site	Filed by / scope	Opt-out route and what's required	2023 deletion requests (denied, median days)	2023 opt-out-of-sale requests (denied, median days)
Whitepages	Whitepages, Inc., per its CA AG registration	Online request at whitepages.com/privacy/ccpa — the filing lists this exact online-request page and no phone or mail option; independent guides separately report a follow-up phone call with an opt-out code	5,083 (495 denied, 0.4 days)	51,427 (126 denied, 0.5 days)
Spokeo	Spokeo, Inc., covering spokeo.com, freepeopledirectory.com, peoplewin.com and thatsthem.com, per its CA AG registration	Two separate routes per the filing: CCPA sale opt-out at spokeo.com/privacy/control or by phone at 1-877-864-0183; a different general public-listing opt-out tool at spokeo.com/optout, also reachable by email or mail	23 (0 denied, 1 day)	3,817,446 (31,754 denied, 1 day)
TruePeopleSearch	Free Data Services, LLC, per the 2025 registry	Deletion request form at truepeoplesearch.com/removal, per a compiled opt-out list; no account noted	1,905 (0 denied, 1 day)	2,124,418 (120,649 denied, 1 day)
FastPeopleSearch	Mississippi Tornado Alley, LLC, registered in California per CodaMail's data broker directory; the same filer also runs usapeoplesearch.com, cyberbackgroundchecks.com and more, per the 2025 registry filing	Deletion request form at fastpeoplesearch.com/removal, per the compiled opt-out list; no account noted	1,905 (0 denied, 1 day)	2,124,418 (120,649 denied, 1 day)
BeenVerified	BeenVerified, Inc., covering PeopleLooker, Ownerly, NeighborWho, PeopleSmart, Bumper and more, per its CA AG registration	Opt-out form at beenverified.com/app/optout/search, or email [email protected], or call 888-579-5910, per the filing	27,988 (120 denied, 1 day)	502,683 (174,052 denied, 3 days)
TruthFinder	TruthFinder, LLC (PeopleConnect), per its CA AG registration	Form at truthfinder.com/opt-out/v2/ or the "Suppress My Data" homepage link, or email [email protected], or call (800) 699-8081, per the filing; one free PeopleConnect suppression request also covers Instant Checkmate, Intelius and USSearch	35,834 (3,236 denied, 1 day)	622,653 (0 denied, 1 day)
Intelius	Intelius, LLC, covering intelius.com, ussearch.com and pro.ussearch.com, per its CA AG registration	Footer "Suppress My Data" link on each site, select the specific profile and submit; or email [email protected], or call (888) 245-1655, per the filing; PeopleConnect's shared suppression tool is a more convenient alternative covering all profiles in one request	26,933 (1,502 denied, 1 day)	638,138 (0 denied, 1 day)
Instant Checkmate	Instant Checkmate LLC (PeopleConnect), per the 2025 registry	PeopleConnect's shared suppression tool, per Recording Law: email confirmation link, then name, date of birth and a verifiable phone or email; no account or payment	21,499 (2,191 denied, 1 day)	378,173 (0 denied, 1 day)
MyLife	Insightbridge LLC, per the 2025 registry	Email request to [email protected], per the compiled opt-out list; no self-service form listed	0 (0 denied, 0 days)	0 (0 denied, 0 days)
Radaris	Run through Bitseller Expert Ltd, per CodaMail's directory; no CA registry entry found for this comparison	On your profile page, click "Remove My Information," paste the profile URL, submit, then confirm via an emailed link, per Security Hero's walkthrough; claimed 24-hour turnaround	No CA registry entry found, so no figures	No CA registry entry found, so no figures

TruePeopleSearch and FastPeopleSearch show identical request totals in the registry data — 1,905 deletions and 2,124,418 opt-outs each. These are two separately filed companies, and nothing in the registry explains the match; it is reported here as filed, not independently verified against the companies' live submissions.

Which people search sites should I opt out of first

Start with whichever site actually surfaces your information when you search your own name — that's the one doing the selling right now. If TruthFinder, Instant Checkmate and Intelius all turn something up, one PeopleConnect suppression request clears all three plus USSearch, per Recording Law. Spokeo is also worth prioritizing: it paid $800,000 in 2012 to settle FTC charges that it sold consumer data to employers and recruiters without ensuring permissible use. For a broader walk-through of the process, see our guide to removing yourself from people search sites.

What happens when you opt out of a people search site

For the sites registered in California, opting out stops that company from selling your existing report. It does not erase the public records the report was built from. As the FTC explains: "After you opt out, the people search site will stop selling your existing information. But opting out of people search sites might not fix all your privacy concerns. For example, your information may still appear in the reports of your relatives, neighbors, or associates. And if the information in your public records changes, your information could re-appear for sale on people search sites." Sites rebuild reports by buying from other data brokers, scraping public social media and compiling government records, according to the same FTC guide, so a listing that disappears today can return later from a fresh source.

Do these sites collect data about minors or my precise location

Of the operators whose California registry entries we checked — Whitepages, Spokeo, TruePeopleSearch, FastPeopleSearch, BeenVerified, TruthFinder, Intelius, Instant Checkmate and MyLife — each answered "No" to collecting personal information of minors and "No" to collecting consumers' precise geolocation, according to the 2025 registry. Radaris has no California registry entry we could find, so there is no comparable filing to check. Separately, Security Hero reports that Radaris publishes the first six digits of a person's Social Security number: "Sites like Spokeo and BeenVerified don't touch Social Security numbers at all. Radaris publishes the first six digits."

How long does it take to get removed from people search sites

Among the nine registered sites, most reported median response times of a day or less for both deletion and opt-out-of-sale requests in 2023, with Whitepages fastest at 0.4 days. BeenVerified's opt-out-of-sale requests took longer, at a three-day median, even though its deletion requests moved in a day — the registry breaks those two request types out separately, and this piece reports both rather than collapsing them into one figure. Radaris claims removal within 24 hours, but Security Hero's testing found that claim "can take longer, and some profiles are never fully removed." The Better Business Bureau gives Radaris an F rating, citing, per Security Hero, "a pattern of ignored removal requests and unresolved consumer complaints."

What's the easiest way to remove yourself from each site

Whitepages' own filing points consumers to its online request page with no phone step mentioned, per its CA AG registration, though published walkthroughs such as VICE's data broker list describe a follow-up phone call requiring an opt-out code — a step the state filing itself does not confirm, so treat it as a possibility rather than a guarantee. Spokeo splits its process in two: a CCPA sale opt-out reachable online or by phone, and a separate general listing-removal tool, per its CA AG registration. TruePeopleSearch and FastPeopleSearch both run simple deletion-request forms at their respective removal pages, per a compiled opt-out list. BeenVerified's filing lists its opt-out form plus an email and a phone line, covering its whole family of brands under one registration, per its CA AG filing. TruthFinder, Instant Checkmate and Intelius each have their own CA AG-listed contact channels, but a single request covering all three plus USSearch is PeopleConnect's shared suppression tool: an email confirmation link, then identity confirmation with name, date of birth and a verifiable phone or email, no account or payment required, per Recording Law. MyLife has no self-service form in the sources we checked — just an email request to [email protected]. Radaris requires finding your own profile page and submitting a removal request with an emailed verification step. For fuller step-by-step instructions, see our guides to TruthFinder's opt-out process and removing yourself from the internet.

What a filing doesn't tell you

None of the California filings explain why a number looks the way it does — MyLife's zero requests in 2023, Spokeo's 23 deletion requests against 3.8 million opt-out-of-sale requests, or the matching totals for TruePeopleSearch and FastPeopleSearch. The registry records what each company chose to report; it doesn't audit those numbers or say how accurate the removed listings were to begin with. Because opting out doesn't touch the public records underneath, treat removal as recurring maintenance rather than a single task — our guide on getting data brokers to delete your data covers how to keep checking.