We’ve come far from simply using social media to communicate and connect with people.
Now, social media is more than just a medium for our photos and videos. It is where people get the recent updates, latest news, hottest trends, and up-to-date gossip. Entertainment just right at the tip of our fingers.
Social media also became an avenue for easy and affordable marketing, newly-launched games, buy & sell, shameless self-promotions, online dating, and online contests/competitions.
With access to hundreds of thousands of individuals all over the world, it is no wonder that having one’s presence in social media (good or bad) can easily go viral – some, even for the wrong reasons.
Social media has now become the eyes and ears of the masses. One false move, and you’ll find yourself in the middle of mayhem. This can be an advantage to those who want their names known.
However, for those who prefer to keep their privacy, this can be troubling once they find themselves in the crosshair of these individuals.
Such an act is so prevalent online that they have coined a term for it – doxing. According to Merriam Webster, to dox (transitive verb) means to “publicly identify or publish private information about (someone), especially as a form of punishment or revenge”. Doxing is when someone decides to dig up about a certain person, and share the acquired information for the public’s perusal.
Allow me to give an example using the case of a certain ‘Boy Dila’. For those unfamiliar with this individual, he went viral due to some offensive act he committed during the feast of St. John the Baptist last June 24. On that day, people in some areas around the country are known to traditionally douse water over unsuspecting people in the streets – in ceelbration of the Patron Saint. (This tradition has received flak for having been abused, but that is a topic fit for another column.)
Anyway, ‘Boy Dila’ decided it would be fun to use his water gun and spray water directly at a delivery rider who was stuck in traffic. His actions were caught on camera, and, unmindful of the consequences, he started sticking out his tongue as a gesture of mockery towards the onlookers (most of whom were inside vehicles or watching from the sidewalk).
Some of the onlookers started taking out their phones, and documenting the whole incident, and in a matter of minutes, uploaded their “content”.
The uploads went viral, and people started asking for the identity of ‘Boy Dila’. With the help of Internet sleuths, they were able to dox him, after finding out his identity.
In an article on Rappler (The Public Stoning of Boy Dila), his name, age, home address, and other personal information were published.
Villainized by the Internet, people started reaching out to him, and sending him (and people around him) threats and insults. His face, now a staple of Internet jokes and bullying, has now become a trend all over social media.
With his address accessible to everyone in the Internet, ‘Boy Dila’ and his family have also been receiving “online orders” they never made (from food and other packages), costing them thousands of pesos.
The abuse of the Internet did not stop until San Juan City Mayor Francis Zamora intervened. In a video posted on the Mayor’s Facebook page, a sullen-looking ‘Boy Dila’ issued a public apology towards the delivery rider.
With the rider forgiving ‘Boy Dila’ for his actions, there was no need for a court case to be filed thus, putting an end to this fiasco.
Although ‘Boy Dila’ may have been the antagonist in this story, there are countless of cases wherein any individual can be doxed. An innocent opinion made on a public page that may trigger another with an opposing perspective can render one person finding himself embroiled in the midst of doxing.
For me, there may be some good in doxing, as it can help give justice to abused persons; but uncontrolled reactions on the Internet may sometimes be a little too extreme.
A popular line, “drop the @”, can easily be found in the comment section of a post talking about negative behavior. Impressively, the identity of the subject could easily be traced by these social media users.
The horrific side to this could stem from simply finding out the identity of the person, to downright sending anonymous threats to his loved ones, causing him undue trauma and anxiety.
Doxing can even go as far as finding a photo posted years ago, tracing one’s job/school.
From vigilante justice to mob mentality, doxing is not mere stalking; it’s a weapon easily abused by anyone.
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Author’s email: [email protected]
