How to remove yourself from DAA WebChoices (AdChoices)
WebChoices is the opt-out page run by the Digital Advertising Alliance at optout.aboutads.info. It collects the individual opt-outs of the ad companies that joined the DAA program onto one screen, so you can submit them together instead of chasing each company's own form. When we ran it in August 2026 it listed 99 participating companies, and the roster is the recognisable half of the ad industry: Google, Amazon, Microsoft, Meta, LinkedIn, Yahoo, X, Criteo, The Trade Desk, LiveRamp, Experian, Nielsen. It is worth ten minutes, as long as you know what it is: an advertising-preference tool for one browser, not a data-removal one.
To remove yourself from DAA WebChoices (AdChoices), submit the official opt-out request at optout.aboutads.info (Bulk browser opt-out tool; takes about 5-10 minutes, difficulty: Easy). Removal is free — you never have to pay a broker to take your listing down. Brokers re-scrape public records, so re-check in a few months or use monitoring that re-removes new listings automatically.
Interest-based advertising profiles: what participating ad companies infer about you from your browsing across sites, and use to pick the ads shown in this browser.
Why removing yourself from DAA WebChoices (AdChoices) matters
On DAA WebChoices (AdChoices), anyone can look you up — often for just a few dollars — and pull interest-based advertising profiles: what participating ad companies infer about you from your browsing across sites, and use to pick the ads shown in this browser. That is more than enough to target you with spam and phishing, fuel robocalls, or in the worst cases enable stalking, doxxing or identity theft. Removing your DAA WebChoices (AdChoices) listing cuts off one of the easiest public sources of that data about you.
Opting out of DAA WebChoices (AdChoices) is quick and straightforward — it works via bulk browser opt-out tool, and removals usually process in 5-10 minutes. It is free: under U.S. privacy laws DAA WebChoices (AdChoices) has to honor opt-out requests, so never pay a "removal" fee. Most people finish it in just a few minutes.
How to opt out of DAA WebChoices (AdChoices), step by step
Before you start, set the browser to accept first- and third-party cookies. Your opt-out is itself stored as a cookie, so a browser that blocks them will not save the choice you just made — you can switch the setting back afterwards.
Open optout.aboutads.info and give the page a few seconds to check your browser against the participating companies. Each row shows a status, and every company you have never submitted for reads 'No Choice Set'.
Tick the box at the top of the Status column to select every listed company, or check them one at a time if you would rather keep some.
Press 'Submit your choices' and wait for the statuses to change. The tool writes one opt-out cookie per company, so a long list takes a moment.
Install the Protect My Choices extension when the page offers it (Chrome, Edge and Safari). It stores your choices as a browser-level signal, which is what keeps them alive when cookies get cleared.
Repeat on every browser you use, on every device. For phones and tablets, the DAA runs a separate app called AppChoices — WebChoices does nothing for apps.
Come back in a few months. New companies join the tool over time, and one that joined after your visit is simply not opted out.
Link verified June 2026 — brokers change their forms, so confirm it’s the official aboutads.info opt-out before entering anything.
Watch out: The opt-out lives in the cookie jar of one browser. The DAA says those cookies last at least five years, but clearing cookies wipes them — so the housekeeping habit most privacy-minded people already have is exactly what undoes this tool. A browser set to block third-party cookies is worse still: it prevents the opt-outs from being set in the first place, silently.
What WebChoices covers, and what it leaves alone
The tool only knows about companies that joined the DAA program — 99 of them on our August 2026 run. That list carries most of the household names in advertising, but it is a membership list, not a census: companies outside the program are untouched by anything you submit, and the tool does not tell you who is missing.
Within that list, what changes is how your ads are chosen, not whether you get them. A participating company can still target you from the content of the page you are on, or from broad demographics. The DAA is also clear that these choices stop at the browser: they do not carry into mobile apps or connected TV, and they have nothing to do with email, postal mail or pop-ups.
And nothing is deleted. A company that has already built a profile from your browsing keeps it. You have asked it not to use that profile to pick ads for this browser, which is a narrower thing than most people assume they are getting.
- Covered: interest-based ad targeting by the companies listed in the tool, in the browser you used.
- Not covered: any ad company outside the DAA program, plus apps, connected TV, email and postal mail.
- Not covered: data already collected — an opt-out is a preference for the future, not a deletion request.
Why the opt-out quietly disappears
Each choice is saved as an opt-out cookie in the browser you used. The DAA requires those cookies to survive at least five years, so nothing expires on you quickly — but they are ordinary cookies, and clearing cookies removes them along with everything else. The routine privacy housekeeping people do is what undoes this particular opt-out.
There is a stranger failure mode before that. A browser configured to block third-party cookies cannot accept the opt-out cookies either, so the submission appears to work and nothing is stored. The DAA's own guidance is to allow first- and third-party cookies while you use the tool. Set them, submit, then put your settings back.
The Protect My Choices extension exists because of both problems. It holds your choices at browser level and, since version 2.0, publishes an AdChoices String that participating companies can read without any third-party cookie involved. If you plan to keep clearing cookies — and you should — the extension is the part that makes the opt-out stick.
One habit worth keeping: when you return to the tool, read the Status column rather than assuming. A company you never submitted for shows 'No Choice Set', which looks unremarkable next to the ones you did opt out of.
An ad opt-out is not a data-broker removal
These are two different industries with two different problems, and the names are close enough to blur them. WebChoices deals with ad-tech: which companies may use your browsing history to target you. Data brokers and people-search sites deal with your identity: a public page carrying your full name, age, current and past addresses, phone numbers and a list of your relatives, findable by anyone who types your name into Google.
No DAA opt-out reaches those listings. Each broker runs its own removal process, with its own form, its own verification step, and its own habit of rebuilding your profile from public records a few months later. If the thing that actually worries you is a page with your home address on it, WebChoices is the wrong lever entirely.
Do both, in that order if you like — the ad opt-out takes ten minutes and the listings take longer. Just do not finish WebChoices thinking the address pages are handled.
What to do after WebChoices
WebChoices is one of several overlapping controls, and the others take about as long. Working through them in one sitting is more effective than returning to the subject every few months, because most of these settings are per-browser and per-device anyway.
- Run the NAI's opt-out too, at thenai.org/how-to-opt-out. Its member list overlaps with the DAA's but is not identical.
- Turn on Global Privacy Control. It is a browser signal that asks sites not to sell or share your data, and California and Colorado law require businesses to honour it — the NAI publishes a Chrome extension for it, and some browsers send it natively.
- Install AppChoices on your phone and tablet, since the browser opt-out does nothing for apps.
- Redo WebChoices in each browser you actually use — work laptop, home laptop, the phone browser.
- Then start on the listings themselves, which is the slower half of the job and the one that shows up in search results for your name.
Sample opt-out letter for DAA WebChoices (AdChoices)
Some brokers accept (or require) a written deletion request by email. Here’s a ready-to-send template addressed to DAA WebChoices (AdChoices) — open it in the generator to add your details and your state’s legal basis.
To the Privacy / Opt-Out Team at DAA WebChoices (AdChoices), I am writing to request that you remove my listing and delete all personal information you hold about me, and that you stop selling or sharing it. I am making this request as a consumer exercising your opt-out and deletion process. To identify my records: Full name: [Your full name] Please take the following actions: 1. Delete all personal information you have collected about me. 2. Suppress my profile so it no longer appears on your website or any affiliated/partner sites. 3. Stop selling, sharing or licensing my personal information to third parties. 4. Confirm in writing once these steps are complete. Please process this request and respond within 45 days. If you need to verify my identity, contact me using the details above — but please do not require more information than is necessary to do so. Thank you for your prompt attention. Sincerely, [Your full name]
DAA WebChoices (AdChoices) is one of hundreds
Removing DAA WebChoices (AdChoices) is a great start — but your data is on many more sites, and DAA WebChoices (AdChoices) can re-list you within weeks. PersProtect removes you from 499 broker and people-search sites and keeps re-checking so you stay off.
Scan all 499 sites — free →Removing yourself from DAA WebChoices (AdChoices), answered
What is WebChoices?
WebChoices is the Digital Advertising Alliance's consumer opt-out tool, hosted at optout.aboutads.info. It scans your browser, lists the ad companies participating in the DAA program, and lets you opt out of interest-based advertising from all of them in one submission. It covers ad targeting only, it applies to the browser you used it in, and it was still labelled Beta when we checked in August 2026.
Does WebChoices remove my name and address from search results?
No, and this is the most common misunderstanding about it. WebChoices talks to advertising companies about ad targeting. The pages that publish your name, age, address, phone number and relatives are people-search sites, a separate industry with its own removal forms — nothing you submit through the DAA touches them.
Will I see fewer ads after opting out?
No. You will see the same number of ads, chosen differently. Participating companies can still target you by the content of the page you are reading or by broad demographics, and the DAA states plainly that these choices do not apply to email, postal mail or pop-ups.
What does the Protect My Choices extension actually do?
It keeps your choices from being deleted along with your cookies, and version 2.0 goes further: it stores an AdChoices String, a browser-level signal that participating companies can read without relying on third-party cookies at all. It is available for Chrome, Edge and Safari.
How is this different from opting out company-by-company?
The result is the same, the effort is not — one submission instead of dozens of forms. The catch is coverage: only companies that joined the DAA program appear in the tool, so for anyone outside it, going to that company directly is still the only route.
How long does the opt-out last?
Opt-out cookies set through the DAA program have a minimum five-year lifespan, and they stay in effect until something deletes them. In practice that means until you next clear cookies, run a cleanup tool, or switch to a new browser or device.
Does it cover my phone apps or my smart TV?
No. WebChoices is browser-only. Apps are handled by the DAA's separate AppChoices app, and advertising on connected TV is not covered by either tool.
Opt out of other data brokers
See the full list of 100+ brokers and the Google/Bing removal steps in the data-broker opt-out guide. New to this? What is a data broker? · Comparing services? Best data-removal services 2026.