Beautiful Bauhinia: “HKLeaks”– The Use of Covert and Overt Online Harassment Tactics to Repress the 2019 Hong Kong Protests

Abstract

In August 2019 a wave of websites and social media channels, called “HKLEAKS,” began “doxxing” the identities and personal information of pro-democracy activists in Hong Kong. While the creators of these sites and channels claimed that HKLEAKS was the product of local volunteer communities, several indicators suggest a coordinated information operation conducted by professional actors in alignment with Chinese state interests.