Trolling & Doxxing

About Trolling & Doxxing

The safety of our campus community is a top priority. On occasion, social media interactions may escalate to perceived or real threats to people, facilities or intellectual property on our campus.

Trolling and doxxing are online attacks in which a person, usually anonymously, engages in harassment, threats or the release of personal information. If you or someone you know is the target of trolling or doxxing, please know there are university resources to help.

What to Do

  • If you or someone you know is in immediate danger, call 911.
  • Report any online harassment, threats or disclosure of personal information to MUPD or the CARE team.

What to Consider

  • Don’t engage with the attacker(s) online.
  • Consider deactivating, deleting or not posting on your personal social media accounts for a few days.
  • Turn off location services on your social media apps on all your devices.
  • Consider using a private VPN that masks your location.
  • Even in posts limited to family and friends, refrain from posting any location information (e.g., posting pictures from a dinner out that identifies the restaurant).
  • Save all emails, voice messages, texts, social media messages, etc. relevant to the threat in case they are needed for internal or external investigations. Consider allowing a trusted person to do this if you don’t want to see them.
  • If the circumstances are impacting your educational environment, contact the CARE team.
  • Talk to a health care provider for support managing stress or anxiety. Visit Student Health and Wellbeing for more information.