Doxxing Discourse

Critically analyzes doxxing, revealing legitimation strategies and informing forensic investigation of harmful online communication.

Doxxing is the deliberate, unauthorized disclosure of personal information with malicious intent. It became a method of public shaming and vigilantism during the 2019–2020 Hong Kong protests. This Element examines doxxing as a discursive practice. It also problematizes legal ambiguities and ethical tensions surrounding doxxing practices.Doxxing is the deliberate, unauthorized disclosure of personal information, often with malicious intent. Notably, it became a key method of public shaming and vigilantism during the 2019–2020 Hong Kong protests. This Element understands and examines doxxing as a discursive practice. Using critical discourse analysis (CDA), it analyzes online forum discussions and survey and interview data from Hong Kong university students. Findings are examined alongside institutional legal texts to show how doxxing is discursively constructed, legitimized, and contested by different social actors. The case study identifies linguistic strategies such as metaphor, euphemism, and irony, along with legitimation discourses framing doxxing as social justice, deterrence, or moral self-defense. The Element also problematizes legal ambiguities and ethical tensions surrounding doxxing practices. By foregrounding the interplay between grassroots and legal discourses, it contributes to forensic linguistics scholarship on digital harm, power, and morality in contemporary mediated environments.