Doxxing: When Someone Shares Your Private Information
Doxxing is when someone publishes your private details to intimidate or harm you. Here is how it happens, how to reduce your risk, and what to do if it happens to you.
Doxxing is usually built from small public details joined together. Lock down what links your accounts and reveals where you are — and if it happens, screenshot, report, and tell someone rather than fighting back.
Doxxing (from 'dropping docs') is when someone digs up and publicly shares your private information — your real name, address, school, phone number, or photos — usually to intimidate, humiliate, or encourage others to harass you. It can happen after an online argument, a breakup, or simply for being visible online. You cannot control everything, but you can make yourself a much harder target and know exactly what to do if it happens.
How doxxers get your information
Most doxxing does not involve hacking. It is usually pieced together from things that are already public: an old post that names your school, a photo showing your street or front door, a username you reuse everywhere that links your accounts together, a public friends list, or details you have shared in a video. Small pieces from different places get combined into a full picture.
Making yourself a harder target
Set accounts to private and review who follows you. Use different usernames for different accounts so they cannot be linked. Strip location data and avoid posting things that show your home, school, or daily routine. Think before sharing your phone number or email publicly. Search your own name and usernames to see what a stranger could find — then lock down or remove what surprises you.
If you are being doxxed right now
First, screenshot everything — the posts, usernames, and dates — before anything is deleted, because that is your evidence. Do not engage or retaliate; it usually escalates things. Report the content to the platform (sharing private information to harass is against the rules on every major app) and block the accounts involved. Tighten your privacy and, if you can, change details that have been exposed, like passwords.
When it becomes a police matter
Doxxing that includes threats, encourages others to harass or harm you, or is part of ongoing harassment can be a criminal matter in the UK. Tell a trusted adult, and report it to the police — 101, or 999 if you feel in immediate danger. Keep your evidence. You do not have to handle this alone, and being targeted is never your fault; Childline (0800 1111) can support you through it.
If anything in this guide has made you think about your own situation and you need to talk to someone, Childline is free and confidential on 0800 1111.
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Last reviewed: 2026-07-29