Reddit-linked doxxing and threats cases

Publishing private information is not by itself a single, general-purpose federal crime in the way the category label might suggest, and prosecutions can rely on provisions that address the surrounding conduct. Charges in this category can include two federal statutes. Section 875(c) of Title 18 prohibits transmitting in interstate or foreign commerce a communication containing a threat to kidnap or to injure a person. In a 2015 decision the Supreme Court held that a conviction under this provision requires more than a showing that a reasonable person would regard the communication as a threat; that decision did not decide whether recklessness suffices under section 875(c). In a 2023 decision on a state stalking law, the Court held that the First Amendment requires the State to prove the defendant had some subjective understanding of the threatening nature of the statements, and that recklessness is sufficient.

Section 2261A of Title 18, the federal stalking statute, covers a course of conduct carried out through the mail, an interactive computer service, an electronic communication service, or another facility of interstate commerce, where the conduct places a person in reasonable fear of death or serious bodily injury or causes, attempts to cause, or would be reasonably expected to cause substantial emotional distress. Publishing a person's details as part of a sustained campaign can fall within that language.

States have their own harassment, threat, and stalking statutes, and may have dedicated doxxing offences, and cases can be prosecuted at the state level. Cases outside the United States follow the law of the prosecuting country. This overview is general background and not legal advice, and it says nothing about the guilt of any person listed on this page.

A case appears under doxxing and threats only where there is a documented Reddit nexus. That means the defendant used Reddit to commit, coordinate, advertise, or first draw law-enforcement attention to the offence, or that a Reddit CyberTip, a subpoena response, or a direct report to the police or the FBI produced the charge. The bar is deliberately strict. A widely reported case is excluded unless the Reddit connection is documented in the charging papers, court records, or contemporaneous reporting; simply holding a Reddit account is not enough, and incidents that actually ran through Discord, Telegram, or other platforms are left out rather than stretched to fit.

The status shown on each entry reflects the newest official document the tracker has located, such as an indictment, a plea agreement, a verdict, or a sentencing judgment, and it can lag behind later developments. A status of charged records an accusation only: a charge is not a finding of guilt, and every person charged is presumed innocent unless and until convicted or until they plead guilty. Entries marked charged are therefore labelled as alleged. Victims are never named, and where a victim is described at all the description is limited to what is needed to understand the charge. If an entry is out of date, incomplete, or wrong, use the corrections page to report it.

This category is limited to cases whose central allegation is publishing a person's private information or threatening them online. Sustained harassment campaigns without a threat or publication element fall under stalking and harassment, intimate-image cases under their own category, and each case carries a single category, so a matter involving several kinds of conduct is listed on only one hub.

Report an error or request a change on the corrections page. The full tracker, with every category, is on Criminal Cases & Convictions.