The following guide covers the process of removing your data from Spokeo.

As some data brokers require you to take manual action to request the removal of your data from their sites, we've compiled this guide with screenshots to hopefully make this process easier for you.

If you're reading this guide, you've likely received a notification saying that Spokeo needed attention in order to get your records removed from their site. Let's go through this process together. All images are obtained from a computer browser, but you will be able to replicate the same steps on a mobile device, as well.

1. First, you'll need to navigate to Spokeo's site, https://www.spokeo.com. It should look like this:
   
2. On Spokeo's site, enter in your first and last name into the search bar.
   
   Please note that you will not be able to search for yourself by email address, phone number, or physical address. If you do decide to search by one of these parameters, you will be prompted to pay for your report instead of being able to get the URL needed to opt out.
   
   
3. After you hit Search Now, you should be brought to a page that looks like this:
   
   
   Please note that the search process can take up to a few minutes as it scans the Spokeo database. It will be returning all records that match or closely match the name you entered.
4. Once the Spokeo search is finished, the results page should look something like this:
   
   
   You can also see in the top right that we've generated an email address for Spokeo to be used in our opt out form.
   
   Find your record from the list of results and click on See Results to be brought to your profile page.
5. Once you click on See Results, here is what the profile page should look like:
   
   
   From here, you should be able to just copy the URL from the top. The URL should be in a form such as "https://www.spokeo.com/Smith-Sample/Houston/TX/p12345678".
   
   If Spokeo still mistakenly directed you to a payment page instead, if your URL is in the form of "https://www.spokeo.com/purchase?q=Smith%20Sample#Sample:12345678", you will still be able to use this URL to opt out.
6. Now that we have our profile URL copied, navigate to the opt out form. Here is the URL for this page: https://www.spokeo.com/optout
   
   Please note that the page will not immediately show the opt out form. You will have to scroll down to view this form:
   
7. Paste the URL into the URL field and use your email address into the email address field. You can also use a Cloaked email address here which we will be doing in the screenshots. Verify you are a human via the CAPTCHA and click Opt Out.
   
   Spokeo will then send you a confirmation email right away. It should look something like this:
   
8. Click on the link provided, highlighted in the above image. This should bring you back to the opt out page, except this time if you scroll down, there will be a green confirmation message underneath the opt out form. We've included a red box around it so you can see the positioning on the page:
   

Congratulations! You've now just taken another step towards securing your data privacy.

Troubleshooting

If you are unable to reach the URL of your profile due to being directed to the payment link and if the payment URL is also not working, here's a workaround you can use to still complete your opt out request as normal.

In the search bar of your browser, copy and paste the below URL, but replace [First] and [Last] with your first and last name. Don't worry about middle name for now. Also replace [State] with the current state you reside in or one you used to reside in. The state must be typed out in its entirety, and any spaces must be replaced with hyphens.

https://www.spokeo.com/[First]-[Last]/[State]?loaded=1

Here are some examples of searches that would work:

https://www.spokeo.com/Mary-Jane/Wisconsin?loaded=1

https://www.spokeo.com/John-Doe/North-Dakota?loaded=1

https://www.spokeo.com/Joe-Shmoe/District-of-Columbia?loaded=1

This will bring you to the loaded search page for your name and state. If there are a lot of entries, you can view different pages of the loaded entries by clicking the next button at the bottom of the list of entries. When you find your record, you can still click on See Results to bring you to your record page to get the URL.

However, you will not be able to update your search by clicking on city names displayed on the left hand side or by adjusting your filters as this will send you back to the payment-locked search page.

If you are still unable to submit your opt out form for whatever reason, please do not hesitate to contact us at cloaked@support.com. We can schedule a call with you to walk through the process together or submit an opt out form for you. Alternatively, you can also contact Spokeo directly at privacy@spokeo.com with some of the information on your record so they can find which record to opt out of their searches.

If you are running into any other errors regarding Spokeo, please reach out to us at support@cloaked.com so we can investigate and add troubleshooting steps to this guide. Thank you for being a valued member of Cloaked!