Pursuing Social Justice Through Doxing on Social Media: Implications of the 2019 Hong Kong Protests

Pursuing social justice through doxing on social media is an emergent phenomenon in digital activism. During the 2019 Hong Kong protests, doxing was a popular practice by protestors seeking social justice for alleged police violence. The protestors attempted to hold officers accountable for perceived wrongdoings by disseminating the private information of the officers (and their families) using the keyword “Dadfindboy” on social media. To illustrate the intersection of digital technologies and social justice, we present the doxing case of the Hong Kong protests. We collected Twitter (now “X”) posts to analyze protestors’ doxing behavior of police officers. We also conducted interviews with members of the Hong Kong Police Force to understand how doxing practices influenced police officers. This case highlights two broad lessons: (1) digital activists leverage social media to augment their protests in pursuit of social justice and (2) pursuing social justice on social media may result in the perpetuation of social injustice. This case informs digital activism research at the intersection of digital technology and social justice on the emergent practice of doxing.