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Spokeo is a non-FCRA compliant people search service that aggregates the personal information of individuals. The site obtains its information from different third-party sources and organizes it into profiles or listings for interested persons to access. Spokeo collates its information from public records, mailing lists, surveys, public social media profiles, and other related platforms that make such information available to the public.
Typically, Spokeo grants full access to the reports to paying subscribers. While payment for standard membership gives unrestricted access to listings on the website, additional charges may apply to perform a full background check. However, persons may also access some search results for free, such as a photo, age, or gender. Other data available include contact information, profile photos, address history, homeowner's details, social media, court records, dating profile information, and historical records.
To find information on Spokeo, users can search by name, phone number, address, or email. Searches are confidential, and only the user performing the search will receive feedback on the search item.
It is possible to delete a profile from Spokeo by following the opt-out procedure provided on the website. Removing a Spokeo profile makes it unavailable to other users. However, individuals should note that since the information managed by Spokeo comes from various third-party sources, pulling data from the website does not automatically remove it from the websites that Spokeo sources it from.
How to Opt-Out of Spokeo
Spokeo allows interested persons to remove personal information from its database via a manual opt-out procedure. Typically, using the opt-out process will exclude the individual's data from showing up when any user searches for it on the platform. Interested persons can use the following steps to opt-out of Spokeo:
- Visit the Spokeo site on a web browser.
- Enter your full name, email, phone, or address in the search tool to retrieve listings that contain the personal information.
- Upon locating the associated listings, right-click the particular report you wish to remove.
- Obtain the report's URL by copying the link address from the drop-down menu upon right-clicking. Alternatively, the URL can also be obtained from the web page's URL box.
- Next, visit the Spokeo Opt-Out page.
- The Opt-Out page has a URL box that you can input the earlier copied report URL
- There is also a box to provide your email address for verification.
- Complete the CAPTCHA and click on "Remove This Listing."
- Check your email inbox for a confirmation mail and click on the link provided at the bottom of the mail to complete the opt-out process.
Following the steps above should help remove any listings containing a user's personal information. It may take 2 to 3 days after completing the opt-out process for Spokeo to remove the report.
Persons who wish to remove personal information concerning them do not need to create a Spokeo account or pay for any membership package. The removal of personal content is free and accessible to interested individuals.
A person can have multiple listings on Spokeo. Each listing has to be removed separately. Individuals will have to follow the opt-out process for each listing and input their unique URLs in the opt-out page box. However, such persons can use the same email address to receive each confirmation mail.
Individuals who encounter any difficulty removing their personal information or who need to make an inquiry can contact a customer care representative via email at privacy@spokeo.com or call (888) 558-9004. The Help Center page also provides FAQs and other means of reaching a representative, including live chat. All inquiries and complaints can be made daily between 5:00 a.m. and 8:00 p.m.
What Difficulties Exist when Opting Out of Spokeo
Typically, individuals can use the Spokeo manual opt-out process to remove their information from the platform quickly. The opt-out procedure must be followed precisely to ensure that the personal information included in a listing is removed.
However, a common problem that individuals may encounter is that a search may retrieve multiple listings that contain different information about a person. This occurs because Spokeo users can perform a search by an individual's name, phone number, address, or email. Each search may retrieve a different listing that cannot be removed at once. Individuals who wish to remove such listings may find it time-consuming and cumbersome copying the URL of each listing, entering it on the opt-out page, and clicking the link sent in each confirmation mail.
Also, it is possible for more of an individual's personal information to re-appear on Spokeo in the future. While the deleted listing will not come up again, new data associated with a person's name, email, phone number, or address can show up. This occurs because Spokeo periodically updates its database and finds new information from over 120 networks. This means that if Spokeo discovers information that was not available previously before the opt-out procedure, it may include them as new information on its database and make it available to users. Hence, a user who removes information from Spokeo today may still discover more listings in a few months.
Individuals may find it frustrating to remove their information from the platform continuously. Spokeo's Help Center service can assist with any difficulty encountered, and a representative can be contacted at privacy@spokeo.com.