What is a data broker?
A data broker is a company that collects, aggregates and resells personal information (identity, address, estimated income, purchase habits, interests) without you ever being its customer. You are not the user, you are the merchandise. In Europe, the GDPR lets you demand the deletion of these profiles, for free.
Information verified on July 22, 2026
A company whose business is building files about you, then selling them. You never signed up with it, you may never have heard its name: that is precisely the point. The data broker buys, collects and cross-references scattered information (a form filled in here, a loyalty card there, public records, browsing data resold by apps) to rebuild a profile it then sells to advertisers, insurers, recruiters or telemarketing firms.
That profile can hold your address, an estimate of your income, your family situation, your purchases, your presumed opinions. Advertising profiling is only one of its outlets among many.
The misconception to correct: this data is not “lost” forever. In Europe, it belongs to you. The GDPR gives you the right to erasure: you can require a broker to delete your profile, and it must comply.
Where it plays out: the personal data removal category compares the services that automate these requests, the diagnostic measures your exposure, and the book reduces what you leak at the source.
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Tech jargon, translated
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