Handle online harassment and doxxing

PEN America suggests looking for yourself the way an attacker would, before an attack if you can.

1. Search for your name and its variations, phone numbers, current and past addresses, email addresses and usernames. Use more than one search engine, and search while signed out.
2. Look at image results, and at old CVs and PDFs that list your address or phone number.
3. CPJ suggests looking up close family members too, including anything that shows their link to you.
4. EFF suggests username search sites, such as What's My Name or Namechk, to find accounts in your name, including fake ones.
5. Don't upload sensitive or private photos to reverse-image or face-search services. EFF notes these services scan and store the photos you give them, though it may be worth it if your pictures are being shared against your will.
6. If it is available where you live, Google's Results about you can alert you when your phone number, address or email appears in Google Search. You give Google these details to look for; Google says it doesn't share them or use them to personalise its other products. It is offered to adults in some countries only.

Much of the advice about data brokers, sites that sell personal details, is about the United States. Set a reminder to repeat the search: new results appear over time.

These settings make an attack harder to join and to see. They don't remove posts about you elsewhere, and they don't stop screenshots.

Platforms or the attacker may delete posts, especially after you report them. PEN America says to save evidence first.

1. Take screenshots that show the content, the account name, the date and the web address, and save the links, especially to the attacker's profile.
2. Keep a log: date and time, platform, account, what happened, and whether you reported it.
3. Keep the whole exchange, not only the parts that help your side, PEN America advises.
4. Don't forward a threatening email: PEN America says you could lose details in its header, such as the address it came from. Keep the original and copy its text if you need to share it.
5. PEN America suggests keeping sensitive material, such as intimate images, on an external drive rather than in the cloud.
6. Collecting evidence can be painful. PEN America suggests asking someone you trust to help.

Delete posts or close accounts only after you have saved what you need. If someone watches the forums where an attack is organised, EFF suggests using Tor Browser and not engaging with anyone there: see Use Tor Browser safely.

Reporting creates a record and can get content removed, though PEN America says to be ready for no helpful result. Where you can add text, name the rule the content breaks.

The Online Violence Response Hub says the risk is greater if the attacker is nearby or can travel to you.

1. Look at the threat with someone you trust. PEN America suggests asking: does it name you, does it include details about you or your family, and is it getting worse?
2. If you fear for your safety at home, stay somewhere else for a while, such as with friends or family or at a hotel. The Hub suggests leaving for 24 hours and then looking at the situation again.
3. Tell someone when you leave, where you are going, and when you are back. Don't post about where you are.
4. Before you go back, ask someone to check whether anyone is waiting near your home.
5. Plan ahead where you would go and how you would leave your home. Vary your routes, for example to work.
6. Decide with people you trust whether contacting the police is safe for you.

The Hub warns that attackers often keep looking for more details after doxxing, including by breaking into accounts: keep If your account was hacked at hand.