Removing the subject

Take it back.

Your appraisal showed who profits from you. This page shrinks their cut, in order of leverage per minute of effort: free platform controls first, broker opt-outs second, legal rights third, paid services last — and only if the free routes aren't enough.

§ 1 · Turn down the ad machine

free · 10 minutes

These official controls don't delete your data, but they blunt the targeting that makes it valuable. Do the ones for platforms you actually use — if you arrived from your appraisal, yours are listed first and marked.

§ 2 · Pull yourself off broker lists

free · ~1 hour, repeat yearly

Each opt-out removes one copy of you from the pennies market. Brokers repopulate over time — calendar a yearly repeat, or use a removal service (§ 4) to automate it.

§ 3 · Use your legal rights

free · strongest tool

EU / UK — GDPR. Article 15 gives you a copy of everything a company holds on you (subject access request); Article 17 forces deletion. Companies must answer within one month, and "we'd rather not" is not a lawful ground. Works on brokers, platforms and shops alike. Email their privacy address with "I am making a request under Article 15/17 GDPR."
California — CCPA/CPRA + Delete Act. Right to know, delete and opt out of sale; the Delete Act's one-stop broker deletion mechanism (DROP) lets Californians hit registered brokers in one request.
Other US states. Virginia, Colorado, Connecticut, Texas and a growing list have similar deletion/opt-out rights — check your state's attorney-general page.
Everywhere — breach hygiene. Unique passwords + 2FA make the black-market lens mostly moot: a leaked password that works nowhere else is worth almost nothing.

§ 4 · Pay someone to do § 2 forever

paid · optional

Removal services file and re-file broker opt-outs on your behalf. They're worth it if your time matters more than ~$100/year — and unnecessary if you'll actually do § 2 yourself annually.

Disclosure Links to removal services may become affiliate links, meaning this site could earn a commission at no cost to you. That never changes the order above: free routes are listed first because they're the better first move, and no service pays for placement or ranking here.

Keep score

Re-run your appraisal after each section. The broker observation should trend toward its floor as opt-outs land, and the ad observation drops a band when you cut a platform loose. The black-market observation falls the day your accounts stop sharing passwords.