How can I get a company to delete my personal data?
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Detailed explanation, checklist and sources
You may request deletion, but not every record must immediately disappear. Specify the data and your reason, obtain access first if helpful and preserve your request. This concerns rights against companies, not our own account settings.
On this page
1. Identify company and data
Find the controller and privacy contact in the privacy notice. Record the account, customer number, data concerned and exact web addresses where relevant. Preserve evidence needed for a dispute before deleting it. Closing an account does not automatically cancel subscriptions, debts or every use of data.
2. Choose access or correction
If you do not know what is held, request access, a copy and information about purposes, recipients and retention. Access is not a mandatory first step before erasure. Ask for factual errors to be corrected with supporting evidence. An unwelcome opinion need not automatically be rewritten; request that your position be added and incorrect underlying facts corrected where appropriate.
Europese Commissie — rechten van personen ↗
3. Explain the erasure grounds
Explain why data is no longer needed, unlawfully processed or should be erased after withdrawing consent where no other legal basis remains. Expressly object to direct marketing: that use must stop. Objections to other legitimate-interest processing require assessment. Data collected through online services offered to children receives additional protection, but not every record concerning every minor must always disappear.
4. Check exceptions
Legal retention duties, necessary legal claims, freedom of information and certain public research or health purposes can limit erasure. Ask for a concrete reason and retention period per category; a tax-record duty does not justify retaining all customer data or advertising. Health, ethnicity, religion, politics, union membership, genetics, biometric identification and sex life/orientation receive special protection: processing requires both a legal basis and an applicable exception to the prohibition.
Europese Commissie — rechten van personen ↗
5. Request safely and track the response
Use a verified contact address or account and request acknowledgement. Provide only necessary identification; ask why more is needed instead of spontaneously sending a full ID copy. A response is due without undue delay, normally within one month. Complexity or numerous requests can justify up to two additional months, explained within the first month. Requests are normally free; manifestly unfounded or excessive requests may receive a justified different response.
6. Use related rights
Request restriction where accuracy is investigated or you still need data as evidence and the conditions apply. Portability concerns data you supplied, processed automatically on consent or contract, subject to conditions; it does not cover every internal file. Solely automated decisions with legal or similarly significant effects are subject to prohibitions, exceptions and safeguards; request explanations and human intervention where applicable. Removing a search result is different from deleting the original publication.
7. Follow up refusal or silence
If refused, request specific reasons, remaining data, retention periods and complaint options. Keep the request, acknowledgement and reply. You may complain to the Dutch Autoriteit Persoonsgegevens and seek advice about court proceedings; waiting for the regulator is not always required and litigation deadlines may run. A complaint does not guarantee deletion or compensation. Where erasure is justified, also ask how recipients and relevant copies are addressed.
Europese Commissie — rechten van personen ↗
Europese Commissie — behandeling privacyverzoeken ↗
Draft letter — complete yourself
Check facts and recipient. The requested response date is not automatically a statutory deadline; keep proof of sending.
Edit your draftWord
Your edits stay on this page and are not automatically saved or sent. Complete every placeholder.
Must the company delete absolutely everything?
No. It must assess which data should be erased and which may or must remain necessary. Ask for an explanation by category. A legal requirement to retain invoices does not, for example, permit continued advertising.
Documents to prepare
Prepare your next stepFill in and save · Word
Tick what you have checked or collected. Note what is missing and take your overview to a meeting.
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Item 1 / 6 · Where do you stand with this item?
Company and privacy contact
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View all details, notes and timeline
Your timeline and evidence
List events and contacts. Note where you keep the evidence; no upload is needed.
What goes in my timeline?
Record what happened, when, the response and where to find the letter, message or photo. Mark uncertain dates.
Is my evidence sent?
No. You only note where it is kept. No files are uploaded or sent automatically.
How do I save my timeline?
Your entries are not saved automatically. Choose Save and continue later to store this preparation, including your timeline, in My overview. Wait for confirmation and save new changes again. You can also download a Word file without an account.
Up to 20 events. Choose a different position for an event to change the order.
0 / 6 · Checked or collected
For each event, note the date, what happened and where the evidence is kept. Example: 3 October — letter received — correspondence folder.
Describe the solution you would like, such as an explanation of a deduction and repayment of the outstanding amount.
For example: which document is missing, who can provide it and what should I do first?
Record the date and its source. If unknown, note this and check promptly. This tool does not calculate or monitor deadlines.
After your conversation
These are your own notes. Confirm agreements with the other person; these notes do not prove their agreement.
This is your preparation, not a submitted request, objection or legally reviewed document. A tick records only your own progress. Check the procedure and deadline in the original letter.
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Clear entries
Download anything you want to keep first. Clearing cannot be undone.
- Company and privacy contact
- Account or customer number
- Data, URLs and requested action
- Grounds, evidence and necessary exceptions
- Sending date and one-month response
- Reply, retention and next steps
Contact with a lawyer
You can use the chat and information without a phone number. A contact request requires a phone number, a verified email address and your wish for telephone contact. Our team assesses which partner fits your question. Data is shared only under the stated consent procedure. A partner or engagement is not guaranteed.
View the current application processSources
Need personal assistance? Request a lawyer through our chat. We explain the next step; submitting a request does not engage a lawyer. The links below support the legal information.
Europese Commissie — rechten van personen ↗Europese Commissie — behandeling privacyverzoeken ↗EDPB — Right to erasure report 2026, §§4.2.3–4.2.6 ↗Het Juridisch Loket — persoonsgegevens verwijderen ↗Sources may be in Dutch. General information about Dutch law, not individual legal advice.