Wiping your entire online presence isn’t easy. After all, if you have spent many years surfing the World Wide Web, shopping online, and interacting with others on social media, you have left behind quite a bit of information about yourself, from your contact details to your photos and buying preferences. But don’t lose hope, as there are ways to get rid of a lot of the information that’s out there about you, improve your reputation, and ensure your personal information will remain as private as possible. Keep reading to learn more.
Request That Websites Take Down Information About You
You might not know it, but there may be several websites that are currently showcasing information about you for all to see. How can you figure out which sites are sharing your details without your consent? Well, you can do a simple Google search using your full name. See which websites appear, and what type of content they’re sharing about you. If you want, you can contact them directly to ask them politely to remove your information for privacy reasons.
One thing you might realize, too, is that a lot of people search websites have listings that display your contact details and background information. To wipe your online presence, it’s also worth getting in touch with them to let them know that you want your information to be removed. Fortunately, it’s easy to do this.
Here are three people search websites that are quite popular:
- First up, check Intelius. This site might have quite a bit of information on you, but you can use the Intelius opt out page to figure out how to have your listings removed.
- Radaris is another people search site that has been gaining in popularity, so check it out. And if you find your listings on there, just go to the Radaris opt out instructions.
- Finally, there’s Spokeo. Yet again, you can go to the Spokeo opt out instructions to have your details removed from the site.
Remove Your Social Media Accounts
In addition to having content about you removed from various websites, as discussed above, you should also make it a point to delete your social media pages if you are serious about wiping your online presence. These pages can reveal a lot of information about you, even if you aren’t using your real name on them. And if you leave them up, people will be able to find them.
Deleting your social media accounts shouldn’t be a chore. Just go to each platform and look for instructions on how to totally deactivate and take down the various pages that you have set up over the years.
Remove Other Accounts You’ve Created
Throughout the years, you have likely created loads more accounts than just social media accounts. For example, if you did a lot of online shopping from various retailers, you likely have an account with each one. If you did any gaming online, there might still be active accounts for that as well. And if you joined any forums, you may have accounts connected to them too.
The next step in the process of wiping your online presence will be to delete these accounts so that they no longer exist. And, once you’re all done deleting your accounts, you can also delete your email addresses to further remove yourself from the online world.