Date: 17 May 2022
Response to media enquiry on PCPD's enforcement action on doxxing
Thank you for your enquiry. Our response to your enquiry is as follows:
Enquiry:
We're hoping PCPD could help offer some comments to clarify the Office's reported move to block the public's access to one online platform - what's the status of the deliberations?
Answers:
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Doxxing is a serious crime under the Personal Data (Privacy) Ordinance (PDPO), Chapter 486 of the Laws of Hong Kong. The PDPO was amended last year to criminalise doxxing acts. The Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data, Hong Kong, is empowered under the PDPO to take cessation action in relation to a doxxing message to remove the message from a relevant platform, or cease or restrict access by any person to the message via the relevant platform or the part of the platform on which the message is published or the whole of the platform (see sections 66L and 66M of the PDPO). Contravention of a cessation notice constitutes a criminal offence under the PDPO.
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The Office of the Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data, Hong Kong, will not comment on its enforcement actions in individual cases. Depending on the scale and intensity of the doxxing messages in question, the PCPD will take appropriate enforcement actions to combat unlawful doxxing behaviour in order to minimise the harms done to the victims.