Research: Statistics Withdrawn, September 2026

FootprintIQ withdrew its published research statistics in September 2026 because they could not be traced to a measurement. What was withdrawn, and what replaces it.

Correction · September 2026

We withdrew our published research

The reports and statistics pages that used to live here have been removed. They stated precise figures as FootprintIQ research, and we could not trace those figures to any measurement the product performs. If a link brought you here, the page it pointed to is one of them.

Use our username search tool, digital footprint scanner, or platform directory to run your own analysis.

What was withdrawn, and why

Twenty-one pages, including the 2026 Username Reuse & Digital Exposure Report, its fact sheet, download page and media kit, the Digital Footprint Statistics 2026 report, the Username Reuse Dataset and its downloadable files, and the statistics pages on username reuse, email exposure, platform exposure and digital footprint trends. The figures on them should not be cited or relied on.

This concerned published marketing statistics, not scan results. Anything that returns to this section will carry its measurement method next to every number: what was counted, over what window, and what the number does not mean.

The first of those methods is published: the pre-registered protocol for a negative-control benchmark of username checkers (29 September 2026). It fixes the corpus, the classification rules and the hypotheses before the benchmark runs. There are no results yet.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Why is this section empty?

Pages previously published here presented statistics attributed to FootprintIQ research that we could not trace back to any measurement the product actually performs. We withdrew all of them in September 2026 and then removed them. Their old addresses now lead to this page.

I cited one of those pages. What should I do?

Please treat the figure as withdrawn and do not rely on it. That includes the 2026 Username Reuse & Digital Exposure Report, its fact sheet and media kit, the Digital Footprint Statistics 2026 report, and any file downloaded from the Username Reuse Dataset. If you need a statement for a correction, write to [email protected].

What will replace them?

Measurements taken from FootprintIQ's own detector telemetry, published with the method attached — what was counted, over what window, and what the number does not mean. The measurement protocol for the first study was published on 29 September 2026, before any result, at footprintiq.app/research/username-checker-benchmark-protocol.

Can I cite FootprintIQ research?

Not at present. There is currently no FootprintIQ figure we would want cited. When figures return they will carry their method, and the licence terms will be stated on the page.

Does this affect FootprintIQ scan results?

No. This concerns published marketing statistics, not the scanning product. Scan results are produced by a separate pipeline whose confidence reporting was corrected in September 2026.

Research: Statistics Withdrawn, September 2026

FootprintIQ

FootprintIQ — Ethical Digital Footprint Intelligence

FootprintIQ is an ethical digital footprint intelligence platform. We use open-source intelligence (OSINT) techniques to help people understand their online exposure — without surveillance, monitoring, or invasive data collection. Our platform scans usernames across 400+ social media platforms and forums, detects email breaches, identifies data broker listings, and labels every finding through our proprietary LENSiQ engine, which keeps a checker's measured per-site baseline separate from identity evidence — all built on publicly available data with full transparency.

Scanning Capabilities

Username search across 400+ social platforms, forums, and developer communities
Email breach detection using multiple data sources including Have I Been Pwned
Data broker exposure identification across major people-search aggregators
Phone number lookups and reverse phone intelligence (Pro plan)
Name-based people search aggregation and cross-referencing
Dark web mention monitoring for leaked credentials and personal data
LENSiQ scoring that labels each hit with a measured per-site detector baseline, kept separate from identity evidence

Our Ethical Principles

Public data only — we never access private accounts or bypass authentication
No surveillance, monitoring, or tracking of individuals
User-initiated scans with full informed consent
LENSiQ scores are policy numbers built on measured detector baselines — not probabilities, and not identity confirmation
Designed for ethical self-audit as the safest and most responsible use case
Transparent methodology — we explain exactly how our tools work

Privacy & Data Removal Resources

FootprintIQ provides comprehensive guides for removing personal information from the internet, including step-by-step data broker opt-out instructions for sites like Spokeo, BeenVerified, and MyLife. Our Privacy Centre gives you full control over your data, and our guides cover Google content removal, address removal from Google Maps, and strategies for cleaning up your digital footprint after a data breach.

Educational Content & Research

Explore our blog covering topics like what is OSINT, how data brokers work, username reuse risks, identity theft prevention, and the role of AI in modern intelligence gathering. Visit our AI Answers Hub for instant, expert-level responses to your digital privacy and OSINT questions.

Who Uses FootprintIQ

Individuals auditing their own digital footprint, job seekers preparing for employer background checks, developers checking for leaked credentials, crypto users protecting wallet-linked identities, executives managing impersonation risks, and security professionals conducting authorised investigations. FootprintIQ is not a data broker, people-search site, surveillance tool, or background check service.