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How to Remove Your Info From Bing and DuckDuckGo (2026)

By the RedactZero Team · August 25, 2026 · 8 min read

Google is not the only place your info shows up

Most people who clean up their search results start and stop with Google. That leaves a real gap: anyone can type your name into Bing or DuckDuckGo and find the same data-broker listings, old profiles, and forum posts you thought you had dealt with.

Each engine is a separate door to the same information. A removal you won from Google does not touch Bing, because they run separate indexes with separate policies. We covered the Google process in our guide to removing personal info from Google search; this post covers the other two doors, which have their own paths and their own quirks.

What a search engine removal actually does

Before filing anything, it helps to be clear about what you are asking for. A search engine does not host the page about you - it holds a pointer to it. A successful removal request deletes the pointer, so the page stops appearing when someone searches your name on that engine.

The page itself stays online. Microsoft says this plainly: information "will remain available on the original website even if Bing has removed the link from search results," and "the website owner is in the best position to address privacy concerns." So the durable fix is always two steps - remove the source page, then clean up any search results that outlive it.

What Bing will remove from search results

Bing removes results in a narrow set of circumstances, and Microsoft is upfront that reporting something "will not necessarily result in removal." Knowing the categories before you file saves you a rejected request. Per Microsoft's own policy pages, the clearest cases involve sensitive personal information and intimate imagery.

Microsoft's examples of removable sensitive personal information include the "inadvertent posting of private records, private phone numbers, identification numbers and the like," and the intentional, malicious posting of "email passwords, login credentials, credit card numbers." It also removes links to non-consensual intimate images, including fake or AI-generated ones.

What generally does not qualify: an ordinary people-search listing showing your name, age, and city. That is exactly the content brokers publish about millions of people, and Bing treats it as public-record material rather than a leak. For those pages, the opt-out at the broker itself is the real lever - more on that below.

How to file a removal request with Bing

Bing's front door for individuals is the free Report a Concern form. You select the type of issue, paste the exact URL of the offending search result, and describe what on the page is sensitive - a leaked document, a phone number posted to harass you, an intimate image shared without consent.

Two practical tips. First, collect the exact URLs before you start: run the search on Bing and copy the result links. Second, be specific about which category your request fits - a report that clearly says "this page maliciously posts my login credentials" maps onto Microsoft's stated policy, while "I do not like this page about me" does not.

Microsoft does not publish a turnaround time for the form, so treat it as days to weeks, not hours. If the content is gone from the source but Bing still shows a stale snippet, that cache catches up when Bing re-crawls the page.

The European route: Bing's right to be forgotten form

If you live in Europe, you have a second, stronger path. Following the 2014 European Court of Justice ruling, Microsoft operates a dedicated request form to block search results in Europe. European residents can ask Bing to stop showing specific results for searches on their name when those results are "inadequate, inaccurate, no longer relevant, or excessive."

The form asks for your name, country of residence, your role in public life, the exact URLs, and a sworn statement that your details are accurate. Microsoft says processing typically takes up to 30 days, and that filing "does not guarantee that a particular search result will be blocked" - it weighs your privacy against public interest in the information, as European law requires. Blocked results are delisted for name searches in Europe, not deleted from the web.

DuckDuckGo: where its results come from, and how to remove one

DuckDuckGo is a different animal because it is mostly a front end to other people's indexes. By its own description, DuckDuckGo sources traditional links and images "largely from Bing," supplemented by its own crawler (DuckDuckBot) and specialized sources for instant answers. The privacy benefit is for the searcher: DuckDuckGo says partner requests are proxied through its servers so the search stays anonymous.

That architecture dictates the removal path. DuckDuckGo's help pages say that to remove a traditional search result "you will need to submit your request directly to Bing first" - the standard concern form for most people, or the EU privacy form for European residents. Once Bing verifies and processes the removal, "changes will automatically be reflected in DuckDuckGo search results."

If a result disappears from Bing but keeps showing on DuckDuckGo, that suggests it came from another source - DuckDuckGo tells users to email privacy@duckduckgo.com in that case, with the search term and the offending link.

Which form do I actually need? A quick map

Here is the whole landscape - what you want gone, where to file, and what to expect. Every path is free.

DuckDuckGo's paid removal tool is a different thing

You may have seen DuckDuckGo advertise "Personal Information Removal" and assume it cleans up search results. It does not - it is a data-broker opt-out tool, bundled with the paid subscription inside the DuckDuckGo browser and currently available only in the US. It scans people-search sites for your details, files removal requests, handles the confirmation emails, and re-scans on a schedule.

DuckDuckGo is honest about the limits: it only covers data brokers, so your info "may exist on other sites that can still appear in search results," and cached broker pages can linger in search engines until they are re-crawled. It is the same job you can do yourself for free with each broker's opt-out form - the subscription buys automation, not access. Our data broker removal guide walks through the do-it-yourself version.

The step that matters most: remove the source listing

Search engine forms treat symptoms. If the page behind the result is a people-search listing, removing the listing itself fixes Google, Bing, and DuckDuckGo at once - the pointer dies when the page does. Every major US people-search site has a free opt-out, and most verified requests process within 24 to 72 hours.

Start by finding out where you are exposed. RedactZero's free exposure scan shows which brokers likely list you, plus any breaches tied to your email, and nothing you scan is stored. Then work through the free, verified opt-out guides for each site that lists you.

One warning: broker listings commonly return within three to six months as the sites re-ingest public records and buy data from each other. Removal is maintenance, not a one-time chore - the same rhythm we describe in our guide to reducing your digital footprint. Re-check quarterly, and re-file whatever came back.

Frequently asked questions

Sources: Microsoft Support, "How to report a concern or contact Bing" and "How Bing delivers search results"; Microsoft's Bing Report a Concern form and EU right to be forgotten request form; DuckDuckGo help pages on search result sources, result removal, and Personal Information Removal.