How to remove your work email from ContactOut.
Step-by-step guide to removing your work and personal email from ContactOut via their official opt-out form and support team. Covers GDPR Article 17 / CCPA §1798.105 wording, response timeline, and what to do if your data re-appears.
Submit a verified data subject request via ContactOut’s privacy form, cite GDPR Article 17 / CCPA, and follow up if you don’t hear back within typically within one month per ContactOut's stated policy (30-day legal limit under GDPR Article 12(3), 45 days under CCPA §1798.130; each extendable with notice for complex requests).
Why is your email in ContactOut.
ContactOut is a B2B contact finder with a Chrome extension that's notable for also surfacing personal email addresses, not just work emails. They aggregate from publicly available web data and social media surfaces and are registered as a data broker with the California Attorney General. If your LinkedIn profile is public, your record is likely in their lookup tool.
ContactOut doesn't ask permission before listing you. Under GDPR Article 17 (EU/UK) and CCPA §1798.105 (California), you have a statutory right to demand erasure - ContactOut is legally required to comply with verified requests.
Step-by-step: how to opt out of ContactOut.
Open ContactOut's opt-out form
Go to contactout.com/optout. This is ContactOut's official data-subject request form, listed on their California Attorney General data broker registration as the consumer opt-out channel.
Or email the ContactOut support team
Alternatively, email support@contactout.com - this is the email channel listed on ContactOut's California Attorney General data broker registration for opt-out requests.
State the request clearly
Subject line: "Data subject erasure request - GDPR Art. 17 / CCPA §1798.105". In the body: "I am exercising my right under GDPR Article 17 and CCPA §1798.105 to request deletion of all personal information you hold about me, including business and personal email addresses, phone numbers, LinkedIn data, and any enrichment fields tied to my identity."
Include identifying details
Provide every email you want removed - personal and work. ContactOut indexes both, and they store them as separate records even when tied to the same individual.
Note: ContactOut does not require ID verification
Per their California Attorney General registration, ContactOut explicitly does not require government-issued ID verification for opt-out requests. Email-based identity confirmation is enough.
Save the confirmation and follow up at one month
Keep the email thread. ContactOut's privacy materials commit to responding within one month. If you don't hear back within that window, send a follow-up. After another 30 days of silence, escalate to your data protection authority.
Opens ContactOut’s official privacy request page in a new tab.
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What happens after you submit.
ContactOut processes the request in their compliance queue. Internally, this typically involves:
- Identity verification - ContactOut confirms you control the addresses being submitted; no government ID required per their CA AG registration
- Data lookup - they locate every record tied to your identity, including both personal and work email surfaces
- Hard deletion - records are removed from their primary database; the addresses are added to their suppression list
- Vendor notification - downstream customers who already pulled your record may not be retroactively notified; the law obliges ContactOut to delete from their own systems
- Confirmation - written confirmation that the request was fulfilled
Will your data come back.
Medium to high. ContactOut's lookup tool draws from public web and social-media surfaces - LinkedIn refreshes, Twitter activity, conference data. Their suppression list reduces but doesn't eliminate re-ingestion. Because ContactOut also indexes personal emails (not just work), the re-ingestion concern is wider-surface than pure-B2B aggregators. Re-check every 60-90 days, or use Inbox Nanny's monthly monitoring.
This is exactly why we built the monitoring layer of the nanny: she re-scans monthly, catches re-listings, and re-sends the removal request automatically. Manual one-time removal is a leaky bucket. Ongoing monitoring is what actually keeps you out.
Frequently asked questions.
Does ContactOut have to comply with my removal request?
Will ContactOut also delete my personal email, not just work?
Do I need to provide government ID to opt out?
How long does ContactOut removal actually take?
Remove yourself from other databases
Let the nanny handle it.
She submits this exact form to ContactOut - plus 16+ other databases - and re-checks monthly so you stay out.
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Scan only emails you own or have permission to check.