Coronavirus doxxing leads to online abuse for young woman in China
- The 20-year-old’s lifestyle was criticised when her movements were published but then her personal details were leaked
- Chengdu police say they have punished a man for the offence as the victim speaks out from hospital
Chengdu police said on Wednesday afternoon that the man, surnamed Wang, had been punished, without elaborating. Hours earlier, his victim spoke out on online forum Toutiao, for the first time since the attacks began.
The 20-year-old woman, surnamed Zhao, said she and her family had been attacked online, and she had received threats on her phone.
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China’s Chengdu city in ‘wartime mode’ after new local Covid-19 infections reported
Zhao, who is in quarantine and receiving treatment at a local hospital, said she would not have gone out if she had known she had the virus. “I just happened to have caught Covid-19, I’m a victim too,” she wrote.
Zhao’s grandparents – a couple in their 60s and 70s – became Chengdu’s first local cases in months on Monday, when they went to hospital to get their coughs checked. The next day, Zhao’s infection was also confirmed.
The local health authority immediately released details of Zhao’s whereabouts over the past 14 days on its website – routine with new Covid-19 cases – and asked anyone who may have crossed paths with her to report to authorities and get tested.
Parts of the city were also closed in response to the infections, causing many to complain about the inconvenience. But soon the public’s attention turned towards Zhao’s lifestyle and the slut-shaming and doxxing began.