Why in News? A woman recently reached out to the Police through X to report a man who had shared and reposted a video of her dancing at an event and compared her performance to sex work.

What is Doxxing? It is an act of digitally publicizing a person’s private or semi-public content that an individual did not intend to share for public consumption. For example, an ordinary person smoking at a house party might consent to their video being shared on their friend’s Instagram account, but not to be publicly re-posted on X or YouTube. Doxxing generally publicizes highly personal data like addresses, phone numbers, private email IDs, social security numbers etc. usually obtained through illegal methods such as hacking or theft.

What is its effect on the Victim? Doxxing is a direct attack on a person’s physical, digital, and emotional security. It can affect women, children and LGBTQIA+ people, and can result in emotional distress, loss of employment, physical harm or death.

Actions to be Taken Against Doxxing-An incident log can be maintained including details of relevant platforms and the ones involved. All passwords should be changed, and two-factor authentication should be turned on to ensure security. The crime should be reported through the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal online.

Steps taken by Social Media Platforms- Google (also YouTube) allows internet users to submit removal requests that it then reviews for further action. X has an in-app reporting mechanism for private information, and a grievance officer to act on such reports. Reddit provides a complaint forum as well. Recently, messaging platform Discord updated its community policies by separating the doxxing and harassment guidelines.