What are data brokers and what do they do?

What is a data broker?

A data broker is a company that collects personal information from different sources, combines it into profiles, and sells, licenses, shares, or otherwise provides access to that data. It may also be called an information broker, data provider, or data brokerage company.

A personal data broker may focus on consumer profiles, such as where you live, what you buy, which websites you visit, or what life events you may be going through. Some broker companies work mainly with businesses. Others run public-facing websites where anyone can search for a person’s name and find contact details, addresses, relatives, or background information.

The main concern about the data brokerage industry is transparency. Data brokers operate with little direct visibility, collecting and profiting from people’s data without clear notice.

What do data brokers do?

Data brokers collect information about people from many sources, turn it into detailed profiles, and sell, license, or share access to it. Some data brokerage companies deal in broad consumer segments, while others focus on specific data types, such as location, health interests, financial risk, professional contacts, or household demographics.

The main activities of data brokers include:

• Collecting data. They pull information from many sources and combine it into one profile. For example, your property records, shopping activity, voter registration data, and app usage may be linked together.
• Combining records. They connect scattered pieces of information to the same person or household. A broker may link your old address, new address, email address, and phone number.
• Building profiles. They group people by likely interests, income range, family status, location, habits, or purchase intent.
• Creating audience lists. They package people into categories like “new parents,” “frequent travelers,” “homeowners,” or “people likely to buy insurance.”
• Supporting risk checks. Some data brokers help companies verify identities, detect fraud, or perform risk assessment.
• Selling or licensing data. They sell lists, provide access through databases, or license data through platforms used by advertisers, financial companies, insurers, recruiters, political groups, and others.

You may be placed into a category without knowing it. Browsing mortgage rates, buying baby products, installing a weather app, signing up for a store loyalty card, or filling out an online quiz may become part of a wider profile.

Who do data brokers sell to?

Data brokers sell information to businesses, organizations, agencies, and platforms that want to reach, screen, verify, or analyze people. 

• Marketing and advertising companies use brokered data to target ads, build customer lists, personalize offers, and find audiences similar to their existing customers.
• Financial institutions use data for identity checks, fraud detection, lead generation, and risk analysis.
• Insurance companies use third-party data to assess risk, review claims, and refine customer targeting.
• Political campaigns and advocacy groups use voter, demographic, location, and interest data to target messages to specific groups.
• Government agencies and contractors may buy commercially available data for investigations, fraud prevention, analytics, or public safety purposes.
• Employers and recruiters may use data providers to verify professional details, find candidates, or support background checks, though employment screening is legally regulated.
• People search sites publish or sell access to profiles that may include addresses, phone numbers, relatives, and possible associates.
• Risk, fraud, and identity verification companies use data to confirm identities and detect suspicious activity.

What types of data brokers are there?

Some data brokers run searchable websites anyone can use. Others work behind the scenes, supplying data to businesses, advertisers, insurers, or analytics platforms. 

Marketing and advertising brokers

Marketing and advertising brokers build consumer profiles for targeting. They may sort people by age, income, homeownership, interests, shopping behavior, travel habits, or likely life stage.

For example, if you search for baby products, move house, or buy home improvement supplies, that activity may place you in an audience segment advertisers can use. These brokers often work with brands, agencies, publishers, ad platforms, and data marketplaces.

People search sites

People search sites are among the most visible personal data brokers. They collect information from public records, social media, court records, property databases, and other sources, which they turn into searchable profiles.

These data broker websites may show your current or previous addresses, phone numbers, relatives, age, aliases, and possible associates. Some information may be free, while fuller reports may sit behind a paywall. 

Financial and risk brokers

Financial and risk brokers provide data for identity verification, fraud detection, compliance checks, risk assessment, and some credit-related decisions. If brokered financial information is used to decide eligibility for credit, insurance, housing, or employment, laws like the Fair Credit Reporting Act apply.

This category includes credit bureaus, fraud prevention providers, identity verification companies, and risk analytics firms. These services do help prevent fraud, but consumers often have limited visibility into what data is used and how it affects them.

Health information brokers

Health information brokers handle data that may point to medical interests, conditions, prescriptions, wellness habits, or health-related purchases. That doesn’t always mean hospital records. Health-related inferences can come from app activity, browsing history, pharmacy purchases, wearable devices, online communities, and location visits.

HIPAA protects certain health information handled by covered healthcare entities and their business associates. But not every health app, website, data broker, or advertising partner falls under HIPAA. That leaves many health-related inferences outside the protection people assume they have.

Location brokers

Location brokers collect or purchase information tied to phones, apps, ad IDs, Wi-Fi networks, GPS signals, and other location-related sources. They may sell insights about where people live, work, shop, travel, or spend time.

This data is especially sensitive because movement patterns can reveal private details about someone’s home, workplace, medical visits, religious activity, relationships, or daily routines.

What information do data brokers collect about you?

Data brokers collect many types of personal information, from basic identifiers to sensitive inferences. The exact profile depends on the broker, its sources, and the market it serves.

Common data points include:

• Full name
• Current and previous addresses
• Email addresses
• Phone numbers
• Date of birth or age range
• Gender
• Marital status
• Relatives and household members
• Property ownership and estimated home value
• Estimated income bracket
• Education level
• Job title or employer
• Social media handles or usernames
• Purchase history and loyalty program activity
• Browser and app activity
• Device identifiers and IP address
• Location data or movement patterns
• Vehicle ownership
• Political interests or voting-related data
• Charitable donations
• Hobbies and lifestyle interests
• Health-related interests or inferred conditions
• Financial or risk indicators
• Court records, bankruptcies, liens, or other public records
• Possible aliases or name variations
• Photos or profile images, if pulled from public sources

Some of this information may seem harmless alone but combined, it creates a detailed map of your life. A phone number can be used for phishing, account recovery attacks, spam, or SIM-swap attempts. A Social Security number is even more sensitive because it can be used in identity fraud. If you’d like to learn more, take a look at what someone can do with your phone number and what someone can do with your Social Security number.

How do data brokers get your information?

Data brokers collect personal information from public, commercial, online, offline, and third-party sources. Common sources for information include:

• Public records. These include property records, court documents, business registrations, voter files, marriage records, licenses, and other government databases.
• Web browser activity. Cookies, pixels, trackers, and ad tech reveal which sites you visit, which products you view, and which topics interest you.
• Apps and mobile devices. Some apps collect location data, device IDs, usage data, or ad identifiers and share that information with third parties.
• Purchase history. Retailers, loyalty programs, ecommerce sites, and payment systems generate data about what you buy and when.
• Online agreements. Privacy policies and terms of service may allow companies to share or sell certain data.
• Information you provide. Surveys, giveaways, warranty cards, quizzes, sweepstakes, and loyalty sign-ups collect data that later ends up in data markets.
• Social media and public profiles. Public posts, profile photos, usernames, job details, and relationship information can be scraped or collected.
• Other brokers. Brokers often buy, license, or exchange data with one another, which is one reason your information may reappear after removal.

Most of these trails seem minor in isolation: a search, a form, a purchase, a location ping, a clicked ad. Data brokers make those trails more valuable by connecting them.

Who are the largest data brokers?

The data broker market is large, fragmented, and difficult to measure. However, some of the largest data broker companies include:

• Experian: A major credit bureau and data services company that collects financial information used for targeted marketing, business insights, and investor analysis.
• Equifax: A credit reporting and analytics company that provides identity, fraud, workforce, and risk-related data services.
• TransUnion: A credit bureau and information services company that offers credit, fraud, identity, and marketing-related products.
• Acxiom: A consumer data and identity company used in marketing, audience creation, and customer intelligence.
• Epsilon: A marketing data and technology company that provides consumer data marketing, audience building, and customer intelligence.
• CoreLogic: A provider of property, real estate, insurance, and risk data.
• LexisNexis Risk Solutions: A data and analytics company used for identity verification, fraud prevention, legal, insurance, and risk use cases.
• Dun & Bradstreet: A business intelligence provider focused mainly on company and commercial information.
• Oracle Advertising: A technology company that provides business data systems and works with many third-party data brokers while also maintaining its own consumer information database.

Are data brokers legal?

Yes, data brokers are legal in the US, but rules are fragmented. There’s no single federal law fully regulating data brokerage across the country. The American Privacy Rights Act was introduced in 2024 as a proposed federal privacy framework, but it didn’t become law.

Instead, rules depend on the type of data, how it’s used, where the person lives, and whether the company falls under specific laws.

In California, the Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) gives consumers the right to access certain personal information data brokers have collected, request deletion, and opt out of the sale or sharing of their data. California’s Delete Act also created DROP¹, a state-run system that lets residents send one deletion request to registered data brokers. DROP opened to consumers on January 1, 2026, and brokers must begin processing requests on August 1, 2026.

Other states, like Oregon, Vermont, and Texas, require data brokers to register and share details about their data collection. These laws make the industry more visible, but they still don’t ban companies from selling personal data.

The “data broker loophole” refers to the way government agencies can buy personal data from data brokers, bypassing the protections that would apply if they collected the data directly. This is especially concerning when this information involves location, finances, health, or household details.

Outside the US, some regions have broader data privacy protections. The EU’s GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation), Brazil’s LGPD, and Canada’s PIPEDA regulate personal information, though rights, scope, and enforcement differ.

How to remove yourself from data broker sites

If you live in the US and prefer not to have your data collected, you need to identify which companies hold your information and request opt-outs where available. Each site may have its own opt-out form, identity verification process, waiting period, and removal rules. Some make the process easy. Others bury the form, require several steps, or ask for information to verify your identity.

You may also want to learn how to remove your information from the dark web and how to delete yourself from the internet.

How to opt out of data brokers

To opt out of data collection manually, follow these main steps:

1. Search for your name, phone number, email address, and address on major data broker websites and people search sites.
2. Make a list of every site where your profile appears.
3. Visit each broker’s privacy policy, “Do not sell or share my personal information” page, or opt-out page.
4. Submit the removal request and provide the required details.
5. Confirm the request by email if needed.
6. Save proof of the request, including dates and confirmation numbers.
7. Check again after a few weeks to make sure the listing is gone.
8. Repeat the process every 3-4 months because your information can reappear from new sources.

Manual data broker opt-outs are possible but require patience. Automated removal services streamline the process and reduce the need to contact each broker yourself. One of such services is Incogni, which Coveron users can get with the Total Protection plan. Learn more about both services and how they are different in our guide on Coveron vs. Incogni.

How to protect your data from data brokers

You can’t stop every data broker from collecting information, but you can reduce what’s available and make your data harder to reuse:

• Opt out of major broker sites. Start with people search sites and registered brokers in your state, if available.
• Limit app permissions. Restrict location access, background tracking, contact syncing, and ad tracking where possible.
• Reject non-essential cookies. Watch out for sites that ask permission to share data with advertising partners.
• Use separate email addresses. Create different emails for shopping, newsletters, financial accounts, and personal communication.
• Avoid oversharing in online quizzes and giveaways. Many are designed to collect personal data.
• Be careful with loyalty programs. They save money, but they also create detailed purchase histories.
• Lock down social media. Remove your phone number, address, workplace, date of birth, and family details from public view.
• Use security alerts. Security alerts and notifications help you respond quickly if suspicious activity appears.
• Consider identity theft protection. These services monitor risks, alert you to suspicious changes, and support recovery if your information is misused.
• Check breach exposure. If your email, phone number, or other personal information was leaked in a breach, data brokers and scammers may already have access to it.

References

1. California Privacy Protection Agency: Data Broker Registry and DROP
2. Privacy Rights Clearinghouse: 2025 analysis of state data broker registrations 
3. Mordor Intelligence: Data Broker Market Size & Share Analysis - Growth Trends And Forecast (2026 - 2031)
4. The Business Research Company: Data Broker Market Report 2026