How Doxing on Social Media Leads to Social Stigma and Perceived Dignity

Doxing is the practice of publicly posting someone else's personal information online (e.g., on social media) without their consent. Doxing on social media can damage the social image of doxing victims (doxees). Three types of doxing (deanonymizing, targeting, and delegitimizing) are documented in the literature. To better understand and mitigate the harmful consequences, in this research, we use social identity threat theory to propose a research model. We aim to understand whether doxing leads to social stigma and loss of perceived dignity, whether types of doxing result in different outcomes, and to unpack the mechanisms of doxing impact. Through two online experiments, we establish that doxing leads to social stigma and loss of perceived dignity; only delegitimizing doxing matters and perceived trustworthiness can help explain the effects of doxing on perceived dignity, but not on social stigma. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed in the paper.