Harassment & Doxxing

1. Overview

Online harassment is coordinated abuse, threats or intimidation aimed at a person or organisation. Doxxing is publishing someone's private information, such as a home address, phone number or family details, to frighten them or expose them to physical harm. Women, minorities and outspoken staff are often targeted most.

2. How it happens

• Campaigns spike after a publication, a court case, a protest or a media appearance.
• Personal details are gathered from public profiles, old posts, photos, public records and leaked data.
• Fake and paid accounts amplify the abuse to make it look widespread.
• Threats can move from online to offline, including people turning up at homes or offices.

3. Indicators

Signs that this incident may be happening:

• A sudden rise in hostile messages, comments or mentions.
• Personal details of staff or their families appearing online.
• Fake accounts impersonating staff or the organisation.
• Strangers contacting family members, or people appearing near homes or the office.

4. Triage questions

Answer these first to understand scope and severity:

1. Is anyone at risk of physical harm? Has a home address or family information been published?
2. Who is being targeted, and since when?
3. Is the abuse coordinated, and is it growing?
4. Does it include threats, impersonation or sexualised content?
5. Is it linked to a specific publication, event or campaign?

5. Severity guide

Use your plan's severity levels. As a guide for this incident:

6. Response steps

Work through these in order. Record every action, with the time and who did it, in your incident log.

1. Put physical safety first. Make a safety plan, and consider a safe place to stay if an address is exposed.
2. Document everything: screenshots with links, dates, times and account names.
3. Report posts and accounts to the platforms.
4. Don't engage the attackers in public.
5. Share the load: let a colleague monitor and document so the targeted person doesn't have to.
6. Offer wellbeing support and time off.

7. Communication

Who to inform, and when:

• The targeted person, first: agree with them what is shared and with whom.
• Incident lead and wellbeing lead, immediately.
• Leadership, and communications lead if a public response is needed.
• Platforms, through their reporting channels.
• A lawyer, and police where it is safe and the person agrees.

8. Evidence to preserve

Keep these before making changes, wherever it's safe to do so:

• Screenshots of every post and message, with dates, times, usernames and links.
• Archived copies of web pages, before they disappear.
• A log of incidents over time, kept by someone other than the target.
• Any offline incidents: calls, visits, letters.
• Platform report numbers and responses.

9. Recovery and review

• Keep watching for new posts for several weeks.
• Consider legal options where it's safe to do so.
• Check in on the person's wellbeing over time, not just once.
• Review what helped and what didn't, and update your support plan.

10. Prevention checklist

• Search staff names regularly to see what personal information is public, and reduce it.
• Tighten privacy settings, and separate personal and work accounts.
• Remove home addresses and family details from public records and websites where possible.
• Agree in advance how the organisation will support anyone who is targeted, including time off and counselling.
• Know how to report abuse on each platform you use.
• Plan before high-profile moments, such as a publication or a protest.

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