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Doxxing Discourse

Expected online publication date:  22 January 2026

Carmen Lee
Affiliation:
The Chinese University of Hong Kong

Summary

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.

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Type
Element
Information
Online ISBN: 9781009518734
Publisher: Cambridge University Press

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Doxxing Discourse
  • Carmen Lee, The Chinese University of Hong Kong
  • Online ISBN: 9781009518734
Available formats No formats are currently available for this content.
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Doxxing Discourse
  • Carmen Lee, The Chinese University of Hong Kong
  • Online ISBN: 9781009518734
Available formats No formats are currently available for this content.
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Save element to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Doxxing Discourse
  • Carmen Lee, The Chinese University of Hong Kong
  • Online ISBN: 9781009518734
Available formats No formats are currently available for this content.
×