Your phone number or address was posted online (doxxing): how to get it removed

1. Where is your information?

Doxxing means publishing someone's private information online without their consent, often to harm them. It isn't always malicious: an old number left on a directory or in an ad is handled the same way.

2. First: your safety and the evidence

1. Assess the risk. If the published address is where you live and it comes with threats or calls to hurt you, tell someone you trust and report it to the police quickly (section 5). Removals come after; they don't replace protection.
2. Take dated screenshots showing the information, the account or site that published it, and the date.
3. Write down the exact URL of each post, not just the site name. Also copy the account name and profile link.
4. Keep the messages and calls you received after the post (screenshots, call log).
5. Don't delete anything and don't reply to the person posting: it only gives the post more attention. Save evidence before requesting removal, because once the content is gone you can't show it.

3. Request removal on each platform

Google: remove the page from search results

Google accepts removal requests for contact information (address, phone number, email), official ID numbers, bank details and other sensitive information. Doxxing is also reportable when the URL contains your personal information along with explicit or implicit threats.

1. Open the "Results about you" tool with your Google account. It helps find results that contain your contact details and request their removal, and you can turn on alerts for new results.
2. Or use the content removal form and choose the personal information category (address, phone number, email). There is a separate category for doxxing with threats and another for sites that demand payment to delete personal information.
3. Give your country of residence, the exact URLs of the pages, and attach screenshots if needed. One form can include up to 1,000 URLs.
4. Wait for the decision email. Google reviews each request while weighing public interest. The outcome can be a full removal or a partial one (the page no longer appears for searches that include your name).

Important: this removes the page from Google, not from the original site. To delete the information at the source, act with the website or platform (rest of this section and section 4). See also remove a Google result.

X (Twitter)

X's policy bans sharing non-public phone numbers, home addresses or location information without consent, and threatening to expose them. For clearly abusive cases, anyone can report. For non-abusive sharing, the person concerned or an authorized representative (lawyer, guardian) must report.

1. On the post, open the "…" menu, then Report, and choose the reason for private information.
2. Or use X's private information form in its Help Center.
3. Also report the account itself if it mostly exists to expose you. See fake X account.

Meta (Facebook, Instagram)

Meta has a privacy violations rule in its Community Standards. The safest route is the built-in report: open the "…" menu on the post, comment or profile, choose Report, then the reason closest to your case (private information, harassment). Exact labels vary by app. Instagram says you can report content without an account, sometimes with a friend's help. Instagram's privacy violation form is about photos and videos, not written phone numbers or addresses.

Reddit

Reddit bans posting someone's personal information or links to it. For this kind of violation, it points to its report page: choose the personal information reason. The subreddit's moderators can also remove the post, so report it from its menu too. See remove photos from Reddit.

Telegram

Telegram apps have a Report button for illegal content (tap the message on Android, press and hold on iOS, right-click on desktop). You can also email abuse@telegram.org with the links (t.me/…). Telegram says it does not process requests about private groups and chats, only content that is publicly available (channels, public groups, bots). For the European Union there is also a DSA notice form: explain clearly why the content is illegal, or it may be dismissed. See remove photos from Telegram.

4. Websites, forums and directories: the right to erasure

When the information is on a website or forum, France's data protection authority (CNIL) advises writing first to the site that publishes it. The reference text is the GDPR (Article 17, right to erasure), together with the right to object (Article 21). It applies to people in the EU.

1. Find who runs the site in its legal notice, terms or privacy policy. Many sites have a form.
2. Write your request with the exact URL of each page, the data to delete ("my phone number," "my address") and your reason. The CNIL template letter relies on Articles 17 and 21 of the GDPR. Our takedown request template can be a starting point.
3. Also ask that the pages no longer be indexed by search engines, and keep proof you sent it.
4. Wait one month. The controller must answer as soon as possible and within one month, extendable to three months for complex requests, with notice to you.
5. If there's no answer or a refusal, you can file a complaint with your data protection authority (in France, the CNIL), attaching your request and any reply.
6. If the site never answers, notify its hosting provider. The Digital Services Act (Article 16) requires hosting services to provide a notice mechanism for illegal content. Explain why the post is illegal.

Erasure is not absolute: it can be refused on grounds such as freedom of expression and information, a legal obligation or the defence of legal claims. The more private the information (home address, personal number) and the clearer the harm, the stronger the request.

For search engines, the same logic is called "delisting": the result disappears from searches on your name, but not from the site. The CNIL says that if the engine refuses or stays silent past the deadline, you can bring it a complaint.

5. Threats, harassment, danger: report to the police

If your address was published with threats or calls to hurt you, or strangers show up or contact you:

1. File a police report with your local police. Bring your screenshots, URLs and the messages you got. You can report against an unknown person if you don't know who posted it.
2. Report to the platform too, flagging the threats (sections 3 and 4).
3. Tell people around you, and your employer if the information points to your workplace. If you feel in danger at home, don't stay alone.
4. Keep every trace. A platform removal doesn't erase your report, and your own copies stay in your file.

In France, you can also report manifestly illegal content on Pharos, and 17Cyber can point you to the right help.

6. What the law says

General information, not legal advice. The law depends on where you live. In France:

• Article 223-1-1 of the Criminal Code: revealing, distributing or transmitting information about someone's private, family or professional life that identifies or locates them, with the aim of exposing them or their family to a direct risk of harm to person or property that the author could not ignore, is punishable by three years in prison and a €45,000 fine. The penalties rise to five years and €75,000 where the victim is, among others, a minor, a journalist, an elected official or a particularly vulnerable person. The offence dates from 2021 and targets doxxing specifically.
• Threats: Articles 222-17 and following of the Criminal Code punish threats to commit a crime or offence against a person.
• Harassment: Articles 222-33-2 to 222-33-2-3 cover moral harassment, including online.

At European level, the GDPR gives you the right to request erasure of your personal data in the cases listed in Article 17, and the DSA requires platforms to provide a notice mechanism and a way to appeal. In the US and UK, the rules differ by state or country: talk to a lawyer or the police for your own case.

7. Reduce the risk going forward

1. Search for yourself regularly on Google (name, number, address) and turn on alerts in the "Results about you" tool.
2. Check what you show yourself: a number in a bio, an address in an ad, visible house numbers or signs in photos of your home.
3. Change your number or add a secondary one for sign-ups and ads, if yours circulates a lot.
4. Protect your accounts: a unique password per service, two-factor authentication and a safe recovery email. Many doxxings start from a hacked account.
5. Limit public profiles and contact lists, and ask friends and family not to post your address.
6. Ask sites that collected your data to delete it at the source, using the CNIL-style letter (section 4).