Understanding Doxxing on Social Networking Sites: Antecedents and Prevention Strategies

Abstract

Social networking sites (SNSs) have greatly changed the way people exchange information and interact with others. Although these technologies add value to individuals, organizations, and society in numerous ways, they unfortunately also have unintended consequences. We are witnessing a rising number of users voicing their grievances against alleged unethical or unjust behaviors on SNSs. Some users may misuse the connectivity and visibility provided by SNSs to incite online crowds to identify and shame a target, giving rise to a severe and unique form of online deviant behavior—doxxing (or doxing) on SNSs (SNS doxxing). SNS doxxing is posing a growing threat to both individuals and society through weaponizing personal information and digital visibility afforded by SNSs. By moving beyond descriptive and exploratory analyses of SNS doxxing phenomenon and its moral and legal issues in prior studies, this thesis proposes and tests a theory of the problem and a theory of the solution for SNS doxxing, and thus offers a good starting point for IS researchers to provide rich theorization on the causes and prevention of SNS doxxing.

The first essay develops a theory of the problem for SNS doxxing by integrating the sociotechnical perspective and situational action theory (SAT) to explain why doxxing occurs on SNS platforms. Drawing upon the SAT, we argue SNS doxxing is the result of the interaction between SNS criminogeneity for doxxing (i.e., environment-based social elements) and personal propensity for doxxing (i.e., individual-based social elements). We particularly employ polynomial regression analysis to articulate how the (in)congruence between SNS criminogeneity for doxxing and personal propensity for doxxing and how the direction of the incongruence between the two will influence users’ intention to publish SNS doxxing posts. We further draw upon prior studies of SNS affordance and crime opportunity conditions to identify three key sociotechnical features of SNS platforms (i.e., SNS structural affordance, presence of the target personal information, absence of capable guardianship) that significantly predict SNS criminogeneity for doxxing. We validated the model by using responses from 1,047 Weibo users obtained from a scenario-based survey. This essay contributes to SNS doxxing literature by offering a theoretical explanation (i.e., a sociotechnical situational action model) of SNS doxxing.

The second essay develops a theory of the solution for SNS doxxing by proposing a moral engagement approach to inform how to prevent users from publishing doxxing posts on SNS platforms. Approaches to preventing SNS doxxing, such as detection and legal regulations have been discussed in prior studies without. Considering the key role of personal morality in regulating deviant behavior, we seek to leverage personal moral disapproval of SNS doxxing to prevent SNS doxxing. Drawing upon the social cognitive theory of moral thought and action, we apply retributive disproportionality perspective and deterrence theory to understand how personal moral reasoning and situational moral norms will collectively develop users’ moral disapproval of SNS doxxing and further prevent users from publishing SNS doxxing posts. We empirically test the model using a multimethod approach: a factorial survey of 470 SNS users and a field survey of 384 SNS users. Polynomial regression analysis results show retributive disproportionality and SNS deterrence of doxxing have an interaction effect on moral disapproval of SNS doxxing. Moral disapproval of SNS doxxing is also found to mediate the effects of retributive disproportionality and SNS deterrence on intention to publish SNS doxxing posts. This essay offers fresh theoretical insights into SNS doxxing and provides platform owners with guidance for formulating platform usage policies and education programs to prevent SNS doxxing.

Date of Award	22 Aug 2022
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	City University of Hong Kong
Supervisor	Kwok On Matthew LEE (Supervisor)