Glossary/Online Safety Basics/Doxxing

what is doxxing

What is Doxxing?

Doxxing (also written as 'doxing') is the act of researching and publicly exposing private personal information about someone — such as their home address, phone number, school, or workplace — without their consent, usually with the intent to harass, threaten, or harm them.

Why It Matters for Families

When a young person is doxxed, the consequences extend into their physical world — it can lead to harassment, swatting (false emergency calls to bring police to their home), or real-world threats. Even public social media profiles contain enough information to enable doxxing if combined with other data points.

Warning Signs to Watch For

  • 1Receives threatening messages that include personal details like their address or school name
  • 2Unknown people begin contacting their phone or showing up in their daily life
  • 3Their personal information appears in places they didn't share it
  • 4Experiences escalating harassment across multiple platforms simultaneously

What You Can Do

Document everything before reporting. Contact the platform's trust and safety team to have the information removed. File a police report, especially if threats are involved. Help your child audit their online presence — remove personal information from public profiles, disable location sharing, and review privacy settings across all accounts.

CleoSocial Helps with Doxxing

CleoSocial's content ratings and honest time limits address doxxing directly — without dark patterns.

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Related Terms

Cyberbullying
Cyberbullying is bullying that happens through digital devices — phones, computers, or tablets — via apps, social media, text messages, or online gaming. It includes sending mean messages, spreading rumors online, posting embarrassing photos, or excluding someone from online groups repeatedly over time.
Cyberstalking
Cyberstalking is the repeated use of technology to harass, monitor, or intimidate a specific person. It goes beyond bullying to include systematic tracking of someone's online activity, unwanted contact across multiple platforms, threats, and attempts to monitor their physical location.
Digital Footprint
A digital footprint is the trail of data left behind whenever someone uses the internet — including posts, photos, comments, search history, location data, and account activity. Some parts are active (things you intentionally share) and others are passive (data collected by apps and websites in the background).
Online Privacy
Online privacy refers to the right to control what personal information is shared online, with whom, and how it's used. In practice, it involves understanding what data apps and websites collect, how to configure account privacy settings, and what information to keep off public platforms.
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