From stan to stalker

Pull up in the monster, automobile…doxxing. 

LISTEN. I can hear the boos already but I had to! And we have to talk about Nicki Minaj stans. The Barbz are at it once again, finding and threatening anyone who dares to criticize Nicki Minaj. How and why? Well, let’s start from the beginning.

On January 26th, Megan Thee Stallion debuted her new single,Hiss, and in it referenced an array of people who’ve been targeting her online and offline since Tory Lanez shot her in the foot, including Nicki Minaj. You can read more about the years-long beef here but just know that Ms. Onika did not like what she heard in Hiss. Four days later, Nicki released a diss track that we won’t talk about because, in my and many music lovers’ humble opinion, it should have stayed in drafts. 

Chaos then followed and fans got involved. Nicki fans, called the Barbz, are a passionate group of stans willing to do anything to show their love and loyalty for their favorite rapper. 

Some fandoms have a history of coming for people who oppose their favorite stars — mostly through heated exchanges on Twitter, DMs, or fights in the comments. But this time when Nicki Minaj fans took to the digital streets they targeted TikTokers who had negative opinions about Nicki’s diss track. Time reported on a few of the creator’s stories of being harassed and threatened by Minaj stans. Here’s a few quotes from that piece: 

Louis’s story:  “My phone starts blowing up with text messages, and I'm getting FaceTime calls back to back to back. It was a hectic situation to be in. I was nervous and on edge the whole time. My heart dropped to my stomach. I was thinking of the various ways it [the doxxing] could have escalated and how this not only endangered my life had I been there but also the lives of my mother and my two younger brothers who were in the house. These are people I’m responsible for.”

Jasmine’s story: “‘​​They started ordering pizzas and salads and sh*t to my parents’ house; they were contacting my parents’ jobs and harassing my parents because my phone number is not listed.’ The fans were also able to infiltrate a private group she has on Snapchat and sent her video footage from outside of her gated community.” 

Kita Rose’ story: “Kita Rose, a commentary creator on TikTok and radio host, says the fact that she has kids to worry about makes her want to engage in these conversations less until she’s managed to scrub her information off the internet. ‘Until I feel safe and secure, I do need to think twice about what I say about anybody. Opinions can hurt you, and I didn’t think about that, so this happened to me.’”

Ultimately this is not just about Nicki Minaj and the Barbz. This is a case study that highlights how much of our information is on the internet and how it can be used to target us. Central to this problem is one big player: data brokers. 

Data brokers are companies that collect the information we give platforms or services.  They compile that data with information from publicly available sources like city records or even info bought from the DMV. They can make a full profile about you and then sell it to whoever is willing to pay. Between 2020 and 2022, the Federal Trade Commission has had to take several actions to protect users' health data when it was revealed that services like BetterHelp (online therapy) and GoodRx (low-cost medication resource) sold consumer information to third parties, including data brokers. Imagine some random person knowing what medications you take or the details of your mental wellness at any given point.

On top of this, deleting your information from a data broker’s website can be time-consuming, expensive and confusing. The process is so burdensome that folks have to resort to paying for a service to do it for them – making this issue an emotional and financial burden.

Beyond celebrity beef, data brokers have been involved in deeply problematic and dangerous tracking of people for years. Last year, a right wing Catholic group spent millions of dollars buying data gathered from LGBTQ dating apps to track down queer priests, out them, and kick them out of the church and their jobs.There are full-on TikTok & Twitter accounts as well as websites, like Canary Mission, dedicated to posting pictures and personal information of anyone who the account holders rally against. Data brokers provide resources for bad actors to leverage scare tactics to silence dissent and quell organizing.

Right now, our data is up for sale. There are things we can do about it in the meantime — I’ll drop some trusted resources at the end. But you should know this is not an issue that should only be dealt with on an individual level. Your individual privacy and security is tied with mine and vice versa. It wasn’t just the TikTokers who were affected when they got doxxed by the Barbz. They feared for the safety of their friends and family. I know that I’m not just worried about my immediate community when a local organizer is doxxed. I am worried about what that means for our movement at-large.

This is the part where it feels like I’m supposed to tell you The Solution 💅🏿. But I won’t lie and say I have the magic answer– that’s why I continue to be in this work. What I do know is that we need collective action against the tech companies that sell our data to data brokers. And we need governing bodies willing to introduce and enforce policies that make it damn near impossible for people to get doxxed. We need our data back in our hands. That is a world where tech works for all.

So let’s dream and scheme: what does a world where our data is ours look like to you? Leave your answers in the comments or reply back to this email and let me know!

Data Privacy resources: 

• Digital Defense Fund’s Guides to Online Safety

• Electronic Frontier Foundation’s Guide to Protecting Yourself Online

• Our Data Bodies Project Digital Defense Playbook

• Speak Up and Stay Safe(r): A Guide to Protecting Yourself from Online Harassment from Feminist Frequency