{"id":374335,"date":"2026-03-31T07:56:10","date_gmt":"2026-03-31T07:56:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/374335\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T07:56:10","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T07:56:10","slug":"doxing-tactics-being-more-commonly-used-against-gardai-conference-hears-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/374335\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Doxing\u2019 tactics being more commonly used against garda\u00ed, conference hears \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Online doxing of garda\u00ed<\/a> is now so common that one staff body said 10 of its members had reported being targeted in recent months. Other garda\u00ed had decided to endure the abuse and threats rather than make a report.<\/p>\n

The term doxing refers to the malicious publication of personal identifying information. <\/p>\n

The incidents involved names and addresses of garda\u00ed being published online, often accompanied by videos recorded by agitators making \u201cvile\u201d allegations against them. In some cases, teenage children of targeted garda\u00ed had been sought out for harassment in businesses where they had part-time jobs.<\/p>\n

The Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors<\/a> (AGSI) said many cases were occurring at local level, with garda\u00ed being harassed online, mostly via video content, some of them with threats of violence and general \u201ccharacter assassination\u201d.<\/p>\n

Much of the content sought to spread false allegations or rumours, often accompanied by videos of garda\u00ed, recorded when they were on duty with \u201cphones shoved into their faces\u201d.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Garda\u00ed called for new approach to \u2018antagonising\u2019 practices of so-called citizen journalistsOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

Speaking at the opening of the AGSI annual conference in Westport, Co Mayo, on Monday, Sgt Niamh Connaughton of Tallaght Garda station said some content posted online, including via social media platforms, was \u201cvile\u201d and \u201ccreating a lot of stress\u201d for those garda\u00ed and their families.<\/p>\n

While her association was assisting many of its members who had been targeted, she believed a suite of supports should be provided by the State. Securing takedown orders \u2013 forcing social media platforms to delete content \u2013 was time-consuming, she noted. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s impacting [garda\u00ed\u2019s] personal lives, their families are being dragged into it, and it\u2019s impacting their professional life as well \u2013 their character has been called into question. And once it\u2019s out there, it\u2019s out there,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

AGSI general secretary Ronan Clogher called on Garda Commissioner Justin Kelly<\/a> to formulate a policy setting out the supports and guidance for all members harassed and targeted online. Media regulator Coimisi\u00fan na Me\u00e1n<\/a> also had a role, he said. <\/p>\n

Clogher said social media companies must be \u201cforced\u201d to co-operate with efforts to protect Garda members. He was aware of multiple cases in which platforms refused to take down content containing false and damaging allegations against garda\u00ed in videos posted by social media users.<\/p>\n

Clogher added the trend of Garda members being doxed was now more problematic than ever and was one of the biggest problems being faced by members of the force of all ranks. He also believed it was discouraging many young people from applying to join.<\/p>\n

He was aware of one recent case in which a Garda member\u2019s image, name and address were published online, intended for a local community to see. This resulted in calls to the family home and teenage children being sought out by agitators in small retail businesses where they had part-time jobs.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Online doxing of garda\u00ed is now so common that one staff body said 10 of its members had…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":308903,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[45,167911,3584,61,60,61415,43],"class_list":{"0":"post-374335","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ireland","8":"tag-an-garda-siochana","9":"tag-association-of-garda-sergeants-and-inspectors","10":"tag-coimisiun-na-mean","11":"tag-ie","12":"tag-ireland","13":"tag-justin-kelly","14":"tag-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/374335","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=374335"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/374335\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/308903"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=374335"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=374335"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=374335"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}