Which major data brokers do DuckDuckGo’s Personal Information Removal tools support and which commonly refuse opt‑outs?
Executive summary
DuckDuckGo’s Personal Information Removal scans and attempts to opt users out of more than 50 named data-broker and people-search sites—focusing on the largest brokers such as Spokeo, TruePeopleSearch and Whitepages that commonly surface in people‑finder results—while acknowledging it cannot remove data from sources that decline to honor opt‑out requests or from categories like public records and news archives [1] [2] [3] [4]. The company publishes a living list of supported sites on its help pages and describes several clear reasons why coverage for any given broker can be removed or fail [1] [4].
1. What “support” means: automated scanning and device‑side opt‑outs
DuckDuckGo treats “support” as active scanning plus automated opt‑out submission: the Personal Information Removal feature runs periodic scans of over 50 broker sites to find matching records, then constructs and submits removal requests from the user’s own device and handles confirmation emails for a short time before deleting them [5] [6]. The company emphasizes that the tool operates client‑side—records entered to seed the searches are stored locally and removal requests are triggered from the user’s device rather than on DuckDuckGo servers—which differs from many third‑party removal services [7] [6].
2. Who is explicitly named among the supported brokers
DuckDuckGo’s documentation and reporting identify several familiar names as within the sweep of its service: Wired and other reviews cite Spokeo as an example of a broker the tool targets [2], and DuckDuckGo’s own opt‑out guides call out TruePeopleSearch and Whitepages among the data brokers it addresses [3]. More broadly, DuckDuckGo says it focuses on the “largest data brokers and people‑search sites,” and maintains a full, up‑to‑date list on the help page where users can see exactly which sites are currently included [4] [1].
3. Why some brokers can stop being supported
DuckDuckGo is transparent about why a broker might be removed from the supported list: a broker going offline, changes to a site’s removal workflow that defy automation, or refusal to respond to removal requests can all force DuckDuckGo to drop support for that site until removals can be processed reliably [1]. The help pages also warn that even after broker removal, cached search results and third‑party copies (news, public records, government databases) can still surface personal data—areas the service does not and cannot purge [4] [8].
4. Which brokers commonly refuse opt‑outs (and what the reporting actually says)
The sources reviewed do not provide a catalog of specific brokers that routinely refuse opt‑outs; DuckDuckGo’s public materials state only that some brokers “refuse to comply” and that those are outside the service’s reach [4]. Reporting and product writeups emphasize operational limits—some brokers change their forms or stop responding to requests, which manifests as refusal in practice—but no named list of habitual refusers appears in the provided documents [1] [9]. That absence is important: publicly available reporting here confirms the existence of non‑compliant brokers but does not identify them by name [4] [1].
5. Practical takeaway and caveats
For users this means DuckDuckGo covers a broad, evolving roster—more than 50 brokers and the largest people‑search sites [1] [4]—including known aggregators like Spokeo, TruePeopleSearch, and Whitepages mentioned in DuckDuckGo’s materials and press coverage [2] [3]. At the same time, limitations are structural: the tool won’t touch public records, government databases, news archives, or brokers that decline or break opt‑out processes, and DuckDuckGo may remove support for a broker if reliable removals become impossible [4] [1]. The documentation and press reporting make clear that the definitive, current roster of supported brokers lives on DuckDuckGo’s help page and should be consulted for specifics [1].