ADELAIDE (Australia): A pro-Hong Kong protester was targeted on social media after she attended a pro-democracy rally in Australia.
The activist was targeted on social media after attending a pro-democracy rally in Adelaide’s CBD last week.
A social media expert told the ABC the harassment, known as “doxxing”, was aimed at silencing critics of Beijing.
Aski, from Hong Kong, who did not want her name published, said she turned up to the protest at the University of South Australia on Friday without wearing a mask.
Tensions quickly boiled over between pro-Hong Kong and pro-Beijing protesters, and she was captured on camera by a pro-Beijing supporter.
She said the photo was then shared on Chinese social media app WeChat.
“They thought I was the head of the whole thing,” Aski said. According to her, less than an hour after the protest finished she started receiving messages from her friends claiming her personal details had been shared widely on the platform.
ABC News has sighted WeChat posts which publicly reveal her full legal name, workplace, WeChat account and a photo of her at the protest.
“I was a little depressed … as I don’t know what they are going to do and I don’t know what will be affected, so at that moment I shut down all the ways you can search for my WeChat ID,” she said.
“I was a bit embarrassed at that particular moment.”
‘Worried about family in Hong Kong’
She said following the protest she received another message of a screenshot from WeChat which had a photo of her sitting down to eat at Costco, while she was there.
Aski said she was worried the dissemination of her personal information could have consequences for her family living in Hong Kong.
“The Chinese Government can know everything so you’re not going to know what the Chinese Government is going to do,” she said.
She said she would not be going to another pro-democracy protest because of it.
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