For years, journalists have written about social media posts by government officials to help clarify the position, motivations and actions of civil servants.
However, when journalists recently trained the same lens on Elon Musk's new government efficiency program, the billionaires suggested that reporting could be illegal, and the Trump administration made similar claims in recent weeks. Joined other powerful people related.
They say crime is doxxing. We publish personal information about malicious people. The term refers to revenge tactics originally used by hackers to bully, harass, or threaten online, allowing them to incite third parties to engage in violent acts.
Musk and others expanded the definition this month to apply it to others who are trying to hold the government accountable by reporting public information to journalists and others. A Justice Department official appointed by President Trump said earlier last week he found evidence that laws had been destroyed from those who were “targeting” employees of Musk's government efficiency program.
Officials didn't name it, but the Civil Liberties and Freedom of Speech Group has released new details about Musk's efforts, including identifying some of the people who work for him. He said it appears to be referring to several journalists he recently discovered. These supporters say the First Amendment explicitly protects the type of work that reporters do, and government officials are not protected by critical investigations by definition.
Instead, Musk and others say they are threatening and trying to cool the media at key moments.
“The term “doxxing” means that someone has posted something on the internet that I would rather not see,” says the most famous free speech group, the individual rights. said Will Creeley, director of legal affairs at the Expression Foundation. As a fire. “But living in the US in 2025 means that if we can expect a criminal investigation to criticise the government, we're all in so many troubles.”
Political rights have been increasingly increasing attacks on mainstream journalists in recent weeks. Since his appointment, Trump has been calling for a name to certain journalists and fired, calling them the government secretly funding news outlets, including Politico, calling it “the biggest scandal of all of them.” It amplified false claims that they existed.
The Federal Communications Commission has also launched an investigation into PBS and NPR, examining CBS News' handling of a “60-minute” interview with former Vice President Kamala Harris last fall. This is the subject of a lawsuit filed by Trump. The Trump administration recently provided Pentagon space dedicated to several large media organizations, including the New York Times and the Washington Post, to right-leaning outlets such as Breitbart News and one American news network.
Creeley's group and almost 30 other organizations are currently seeking Ed Martin, an interim US lawyer for the District of Columbia. He issued a public threat to explain the law he believes was violated to prosecute those who interfered in Musk's work. And who he is investigating. In a letter last week, the organization said attempts to claim reporters and media in that context were unethical, illegal and unconstitutional.
White House spokesman Harrison Fields said the administration and the Doge were both very transparent.
Fields also said there was no internal discussion about arresting media members, but “no one, including media members, exceeds the law.”
Musk did not respond to an email seeking comment.
There is no federal anti-doxing law, but more than a dozen states have enacted laws to protect people from protecting doxx. Some of these laws have been adjusted to apply to certain civil servants, such as police officers, public health officials, and judges.
Martin's statement followed a new report on the efficiency of the so-called government, a group led by Musk, who is accused of federal reforms.
The first report published by Wired on February 2nd was named six of the department's most recent recruits.
The next day, Musk took him to his social media platform X and responded to an anonymous account that shared the names of those employees.
“You committed a crime,” Musk wrote. The account was then suspended and the post disappeared from the platform.
Charlie Kirk, co-founder of the right-wing activist group Turning Point, said he posted to X's 4.6 million followers hours later, Martin He posted a letter. In a Justice Department letterhead, Musk tagged him, saying, “We do not tolerate lawsuits that pose or dissatisfaction with Doge workers.”
A few days later, Wall Street Journal reporter Katherine Long said that Marko Elez, 25, a Doge employee granted access to the Treasury payment system, was previously racist on social media. I wrote an article saying I had posted a comment. account. In response to Long's inquiry with the White House, Erez resigned.
It prompted a series of attacks by Mr. Musk of X. He claimed that the reporter was a “disgusting, cruel person” who should be fired immediately, adding that her actions were “certainly inappropriate and possibly criminal.”
Hours later, Martin wrote to X a second letter to Musk, saying, “He is referring to multiple individuals and networks and threatening government officials who are believed to be stealing government property.” I'm grateful.
Wired said the Department of Justice has not contacted it regarding the issue. “Our reporting speaks for itself,” Katie Drummond, the outlet's global editorial director, said in a statement, adding that it is “strictly reported and confirmed.”
The Wall Street Journal did not respond to requests for comment.
Long has since been a target of massive swelling of online abuse and criticism. Bill Ackman, a well-known hedge fund manager, called her an “evil and unethical liar” in a post that included her contact information. In an article in Business Insider last year, Long reported that Ackman's wife, Neri Oxman, appears to have plagiarized her paper.
Over the weekend, the British right-wing influencer described her as “fantastic” and worked with a State Department internship over a decade ago, so she could be a federal agent for undercover investigations. I wrote an important article about Long, who suggested. For the US International Development Agency in Tajikistan in 2016.
Vice President JD Vance suggested in X's post that Long is “trying to destroy people” with her job.
University of Virginia law professor Daniel Citron specializes in online privacy issues, but says it's ironic that Long was harassed online by the same people who cried out fouls for her report. Ta.
“This is a case of 'privacy for me, but not for you,'” Citron said.
She and others also said Musk and others are allied with the Trump administration despite their recent outrage over what they call Doxxing.
In October, for example, a group funded by the Heritage Foundation, a nonprofit distributed to Trump, behind Project 2025, the Republican administration's right-wing blueprint, was a group that was funded by 10 Homeland Security officials. They published the names of lesser known employees and called them. They are “the most destructive immigrant bureaucrats in America.” Last week it published the names of more than 50 other modest federal employees as part of what they called the “Dei Watchlist.”
And in late November, Musk amplified X's posts that nominated four federal employees working on climate change issues, prompting at least one of them to delete their social media accounts. It's become.
