The High Court has granted an interim injunction to restrain doxxing and harassment against police officers and their families.

The injunction, to remain in force until 10.30am, November 8, restrains people from unlawfully and willfully conducting any of these acts:

(a) using, publishing, communicating or disclosing to any other person the personal data of and concerning any police officer(s) and/or their spouses and/or their respective family members (namely parents, children or siblings).

Such data includes but is not limited to their name, job title, residential address, office address, school address, email address, date of birth, telephone number, Hong Kong Identity Card number or identification number of any other official identity documents, Facebook Account ID, Instagram Account ID, car plate number, and any photograph of the police officer(s) and/or their spouses and/or their respective family members (namely parents, children or siblings), without the consent of the police officer(s) and/or their family member(s) (as the case may be) concerned;

(b) intimidating, molesting, harassing, threatening, pestering or interfering with any police officer(s) and/or their spouses and/or their respective family members (namely parents, children or siblings);

(c) assisting, causing, counselling, procuring, instigating, inciting, aiding, abetting or authorising others to commit any of the aforesaid acts or participate in any of the aforesaid acts.

Since June, police officers’ personal information has been unlawfully disclosed and widely published on the Internet. Such information includes schools and classes that their children attended. Officers who had been doxxed were affected by different levels of nuisance and intimidation.

They include harassment by telephone calls, identities being misused to apply for loans and make online purchases, harassing officers’ family members by visiting their workplaces. Some officers or their family members even received letters threatening to brutally hurt them.

These acts constitute serious intimidation and harassment to the police officers and their family members, causing grievous concern over their personal safety and mental distress.

As such, the Secretary for Justice as guardian of the public interest and the Commissioner of Police as a representative on behalf of all police officers sought an injunctive order to restrain anyone from conducting any of these acts.