Doxxing: Can You Sue Someone for Posting Your Personal Information?

Posting someone’s home address, phone number, financial information, or other private details online can put that person in a vulnerable position. If someone has doxxed you, you may be able to take legal action. Depending on the circumstances, you could pursue a privacy claim, seek damages for emotional distress, or use state laws addressing online harassment and doxxing. Identifying the person responsible can present another challenge, particularly when they hide behind an anonymous account.

Find a qualified personal injury lawyer through the Super Lawyers directory.

What Is Doxxing?

The term doxxing comes from slang that originated in the early days of the internet. Users in the 1990s would say “dropping dox,” where “dox” is a spelling alteration of the abbreviation “docs”. Hackers would publish their rivals’ real-world identifying and contact information.

Today, doxxing is used to describe the act of publishing personal information online without the person’s consent. The information often includes private or sensitive details that can readily identify the individual. People typically dox to intimidate, threaten, or embarrass the person being doxxed. People sometimes use it as retaliation. Doxxing exposes victims to harassment, unwanted attention, stalking, threats, identity theft, or physical harm.

Personally identifying information can include a home address, personal phone number, or email address. In more serious cases, it could be the person’s Social Security number or financial account information. In other situations, it could be the person’s workplace information, family members’ identities, or children’s school information.

Publishing private information alone doesn’t automatically support a legal liability claim. The context behind the publishing matters. The court will consider the specific information disclosed, the poster’s intent, and the resulting circumstances.

Hurt in an Accident?

Have you been injured by someone's actions? Find an experienced personal injury attorney in your area with Super Lawyers and seek the compensation you deserve.

Find a lawyer today

Can You Sue Someone for Doxxing You?

Whether you can sue someone for doxxing you will depend on the information published, the circumstances, and applicable state law. No single federal law covers all forms of doxxing. Potential claims could include:

• Public disclosure of private facts
• Intentional infliction of emotional distress
• Civil harassment or cyberstalking claims where state law provides a remedy
• A statutory civil action under an applicable state anti-doxxing law

Depending on the law, a victim may have more than one potential claim under civil and criminal law. To succeed, victims must connect the personal information online to the defendant’s conduct.

What Civil Lawsuits Can You Bring for Doxxing?

Depending on the circumstances, you may have several grounds for suing someone who publishes your personal information. One is public disclosure of private facts, an invasion of privacy claim involving the widespread publication of private information that would be highly offensive to a reasonable person and is not of legitimate public concern.

Publishing private medical or financial information, intimate photographs, or previously undisclosed personal details could potentially support this claim. However, publicly available information and disclosures involving newsworthy matters can complicate a case.

Another potential personal injury claim is intentional infliction of emotional distress (IIED). This requires extreme and outrageous conduct, intentional or reckless behavior, and severe emotional distress. For example, publishing your home address while threatening you or encouraging others to harm you could potentially support an IIED claim. Ordinary insults or offensive online comments generally do not meet this standard.

You may also have legal options under state harassment or stalking laws if the doxxing involves repeated threats, unwanted contact, or efforts to encourage others to target you. Depending on the state, available remedies may include damages, protective orders, and injunctions. Some laws, however, only establish criminal penalties rather than an independent civil claim.

Each claim has different requirements, and not every instance of doxxing will support a lawsuit. An attorney can evaluate the circumstances and help you determine which legal remedies are available.

Can You Sue Someone Who Posts Doxxing Information Anonymously?

Doxxers may use anonymous accounts, pseudonyms, fake profiles, VPNs, or other methods to conceal their identities. One option available may be to file a John Doe lawsuit. The defendant remains unidentified while the plaintiff seeks more information to identify them.

A victim could use subpoenas or other court mechanisms to request identifying information from social media platforms, website hosts, or internet service providers. This can help identify account registration information, IP addresses, login data, or other identifying information.

One challenge is that online speech receives First Amendment protection. Courts may require plaintiffs to establish a sufficient factual and legal basis for their claims before ordering disclosure. Some courts may also allow the anonymous individual to challenge the subpoena and prevent disclosure of their information.

Can You Sue a Social Media Platform for Allowing Doxxing?

Holding the social media platform responsible for hosting the information can be difficult. Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act generally protects interactive computer service providers from liability for content created and posted by their users.

This protection can make it difficult to sue social media companies, website operators, and other online services over doxxing posts. However, Section 230 does not give platforms unlimited immunity. Different liability questions may arise when a platform materially contributes to creating or developing unlawful content rather than simply hosting or distributing it.

For example, the platform encouraged inciting imminent lawless action or knew about it and did nothing to stop it.

What Evidence Do You Need To Sue Someone for Doxxing?

Courts look for evidence to validate a plaintiff’s claims. Collect evidence that can establish who published the information, what was disclosed, the intent, and the harm.

Keep screenshots of posts, comments, messages, and profiles. Create a list of URLs, account names, usernames, and publication dates. Keep records that can show unwanted contact, threats, or stalking. Keep evidence of damages, such as medical or counseling records.

Preserve as much evidence as possible as soon as possible. Posts and accounts can be deleted, making it harder or even impossible to recover.

Contact an Attorney

Doxxing lawsuits can involve several overlapping areas of law, from invasion of privacy and emotional distress to state-specific anti-doxxing statutes. An attorney can help you sort through those options, particularly when the person responsible is anonymous, or the online platform refuses to cooperate.

Find a personal injury lawyer who understands these cases through the Super Lawyers directory.