Half of Americans want the internet to forget about them – but they don’t know how

More and more people want the internet to forget about them. This sentiment is especially strong in the US where almost half of internet users would like to be removed from the web. However, most of them don’t know how.

This is the main finding unveiled by a joint investigation recently carried out by one of the best VPN providers around, NordVPN, and personal data removal company Incogni. Worse still, the global percentage of people worried about their personal data rose from 30% in 2022 to 35% this year.

“The shift in people’s attitude and their increasing need to delete their presence from the internet highlights a trend: people are no longer passively accepting the idea that their data should live on the internet forever,” said Marijus Briedis, CTO at NordVPN.

152 million Americans want to delete themselves from the web

Under NordVPN and Incogni’s commission, researchers at Cint surveyed a total of 6,800 respondents aged 18 years old and older from the US, UK, Canada, Germany, France, Spain, and Italy. Unsurprisingly, Americans came out as the most worried, with Canadians following suit.

Almost half of the people in the US (48% of respondents) feel used by companies that collect, sell, or use their data to benefit third parties. This is the main reason why Americans want their personal information removed from the internet. At the same time, they are also worried that someone will eventually hack their devices to steal their sensitive data.

Most American respondents (40%) agree that their names shouldn’t be online, either, while 41% expressed a lack of trust in the internet, and one-fifth fear manipulation by third parties.