If you're doxxed

Being doxxed is not a failure of caution. Determined people succeed against careful setups, information leaks through friends and family, and platforms make mistakes. What happens next is largely determined by the first hour, so it's worth knowing the order of operations before you ever need it.

1. Document before anything disappears

• Screenshot everything, including the full URL and a visible date. Bookmarks are not evidence — posts get deleted, edited and re-posted.
• Record usernames, profile links and timestamps for every account involved.
• Save it somewhere outside the affected accounts and back it up.
• Note what information is actually exposed — name only, city, employer, address, photographs. The response is different for each, and in the panic it's easy to assume the worst version.

2. Do not engage

• Don't reply, don't argue, don't ask them to stop. A reaction confirms the information landed and rewards the effort. For a certain kind of person, your distress is the entire point.
• Don't confirm or deny anything, even privately, even to someone who seems sympathetic.
• Don't post about it publicly while it's live. It drives an audience to the thing you want buried.
• Don't threaten legal action yourself. It rarely deters and it can escalate. Let a professional send anything formal.

3. Contain the accounts

• Change passwords, starting with your recovery email, then anything financial, then everything else.
• Check two-factor settings and confirm no unfamiliar device or phone number has been added.
• Sign out all active sessions on every platform that offers it.
• Lock personal accounts and check what's visible from a logged-out browser.
• Warn family and close friends not to accept new follows or respond to messages about you. Attackers work outwards through your contacts.

4. Report through the right channels

• The platform where it was posted, using the specific report category — harassment, doxxing, or non-consensual imagery. The category affects how fast it's triaged.
• The host, if it's on a website rather than a social platform. Hosting providers respond to formal complaints when site owners don't.
• Search engines, to deindex pages containing your personal information. There are dedicated processes for personal data and for non-consensual explicit imagery.
• StopNCII.org if intimate images are involved. It fingerprints the image on your own device and shares only the hash with participating platforms, so you never upload anything.
• Your own platforms' trust and safety teams, so they have context if the person turns up there next.

5. Escalate properly

• Report to police and get a reference number, even if you expect little. It creates a record, which matters enormously if there's a pattern later or you need a protective order.
• Bring your documentation printed and organised. It changes how the report is handled.
• Consider a solicitor or lawyer who handles online harassment and image abuse. Many offer a free initial conversation.
• Contact a support organisation for sex workers in your country. In the UK, National Ugly Mugs supports people in the industry with reporting and safety; in the US, SWOP chapters and similar local projects do comparable work. They have seen this many times and will not judge you.

6. Get ahead of it, on your terms

If your identity is out, the worst version is the people in your life finding out from a stranger. Telling them yourself is a completely different conversation, and you get to choose the framing, the timing and the amount of detail.

• Prepare two flat sentences and stop there. "Someone online is trying to cause trouble for me by sharing private information. I'm dealing with it." You owe nobody an explanation of your work.
• Decide in advance who actually needs to know. The list is usually shorter than it feels at 3am.
• Consider an employer or landlord only if there's genuine exposure. Your rights vary hugely by jurisdiction — take advice before disclosing anything.
• Don't over-explain or apologise. Calm and brief is what makes it a non-event for the people who care about you.

If your address is exposed

• Treat this as a physical safety matter and tell the police explicitly that your home address has been published alongside sexual content.
• Fit a doorbell camera if you don't have one, and don't answer to unexpected callers.
• Tell delivery drivers and neighbours nothing about your work or your schedule.
• Consider staying elsewhere for a while if contact escalates. It isn't an overreaction.
• Vary your routine if you have any reason to believe someone is local.

Call the police immediately, rather than following any process above, if there are threats of violence, if someone turns up, if family members are being contacted, or if contact is sustained and escalating.

Afterwards

• Expect this to affect you for a while. It's a violation, and treating it as one is healthier than pretending it was an inconvenience.
• Don't isolate. Talk to someone in the industry who understands the specifics — this is exactly what the buddy system and the group are for.
• Rebuild separation gradually once things are calm: new accounts, tightened settings, and a review of how the link was made.
• A new stage name is survivable. It's a real cost and it is not the end of a career — plenty of people have done it and gone on to earn more than before.

Related: staying anonymous, handling personal questions and content & leaks.