Since her personal phone number was posted online, Hong Kong pro-democracy activist Carol Ng has received menacing calls from strangers and been bombarded with messages calling her a "cockroach".
She is not alone.
A sophisticated and shady website called HK Leaks has ramped up its "doxxing" -- where people's personal details are published online -- of Hong Kong political activists, targeting those it says have broken a sweeping new national security law.
Promoted by groups linked to the Chinese Communist Party and hosted on Russia-based servers, HK Leaks has become the most prominent doxxing site targeting democracy activists since it first emerged in 2019.
The website continues to operate despite requests last year from Hong Kong's Privacy Commissioner to remove all personal profiles, and it has been referred to the Hong Kong Police for investigation.
Home addresses, social media profiles and telephone numbers feature alongside descriptions of individuals' alleged "crimes".
The website published information on at least 14 people it claims broke the security law -- a charge which carries a maximum sentence of life in prison -- within weeks of the legislation being imposed by Beijing on the city, an AFP investigation found.
"When it first happened I was very stressed," Ng, chairwoman of the Hong Kong Confederation of Trade Unions, told AFP.
"I received some phone calls and messages from 'blue ribbon' people on Facebook," she said, referring to government supporters who adopted the colour because it is associated with the police.
"Every now and then, I receive a mass of WhatsApp messages, thousands of stickers. They call us cockroaches."
"They know they will make people very scared. But I'm not afraid, because this is my freedom and I ..
Support the originator by clicking the read the rest link below.
