How To Respond: Doxxing
Recognise, Respond, Support:
Doxxing (or Doxing)
What is it?
Doxxing is when someone shares a person’s private or sensitive personal information online without their permission or consent. It can include someone’s name, address, phone number or their photos, school information or reveal where they live.
It can happen in conjunction with other forms of online abuse or targeting.
Sometimes it is done to harass, embarrass or threaten someone.
Once this information is shared, it can spread quickly, increasing risks of harassment or identity theft.
Children and young people often don’t realise how much information or details they share through photos, bios or posts.
They also sometimes don’t realise how easily others can piece information together.
If you, your child or someone you know has had personal information shared online without consent, support is available and it's important to seek help and advice; you are not alone.
The Harmful Digital Communications Act
Under the Harmful Digital Communications Act (HDCA), sending messages or posting online content that intentionally causes severe emotional distress can be illegal.
If you're experiencing this, you can reach out to Netsafe for assistance. We can guide you through the available options and steps to help resolve the issue.
Recognising the signs
These may be indicators that something is happening for your young person online, or they have seen something upsetting:
- Your child is upset about something shared online about them or a friend
- They mention a post or message that “knows too much” about them
- They suddenly delete or lock down social media accounts or they become withdrawn or secretive about their online activities
- They seem anxious about who can “see” them online
What to do
- Stay calm and reassure
- Let your young person share what's happened, listen calmly and ask them what support they're looking for from you
- Save evidence
- Screenshot any posts, comments or messages showing personal details
- Secure your online accounts
- Review privacy settings on your social media and online accounts and set profiles to private and restrict who can contact you
- Consider changing your social media profile names if you suspect you are being tracked
- Inform friends and family
- If you feel comfortable, notify your friends and family about the situation as doxxers might target them too
- Advise them to set their social media profiles to private
- Ask the doxxer to take it down
- If you know the doxxer and it is safe, ask them to remove the posts. Alternatively, you can ask a mutual friend to intervene.
- Report
- Use in-app tools to report the content and request removal
- Report to Netsafe
- Contact Netsafe for advice and support if you’re unsure what to do, or need support to remove or block the content
- Contact the Police (105) if there is any threat to safety
Tips to connect and prevent further harm
Depending on the age and stage of your child you might:
- Reassure them that it wasn’t their fault to see it. Keep calm and acknowledge their feelings
- “Sometimes people post or share that aren’t OK to see. It’s not your fault and you are not alone. You did the right thing by telling me”
- Explore safe ways to report or block content - practise this together
- Talk about why distressing content is often shared for clicks, shock value, or misinformation
- Discuss emotional responses openly: “How did that make you feel?”
- Help them develop coping strategies like taking breaks, filtering their social feed, muting chats and message, privatising their online accounts or talking to someone they trust for support
- Encourage them to come to you again if they ever see something upsetting, or that makes them feel uncomfortable, no matter how small
- Reinforce balance by having time offline, with positive, creative play and activity
Find out more
Visit the Netsafe website to learn more about doxxing and how to prevent it from happening, as well as how to contact the Helpline for advice and support.
