The New York Times has taken “appropriate action” against a reporter who leaked information from a private WhatsApp group of Jewish professionals in Australia earlier this year, leading to many of its members being doxed and harassed by pro-Palestine activists.
Times reporter Natasha Frost, who is based in Melbourne, Australia, downloaded and shared 900 pages of content from a closed WhatsApp group launched by Jewish professionals in the aftermath of the October 7 attacks.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Frost shared the content with the subject of an article she had worked on. In a statement provided by a Times’ spokesperson, she affirmed that she only shared the content with one person: “Its subsequent dissemination and misuse happened entirely without my knowledge or consent. I was shocked by these events, which put me and many others at terrible risk,” the statement said. “I deeply regret my decision, and I have no plans to comment further.”
The Times spokesperson also addressed the incident in a statement, noting that Frost “inappropriately shared information with the subject of a story to assist the individual in a private matter, a clear violation of our ethics.
The statement added: “This was done without the knowledge or approval of The Times. We have reviewed the matter and taken appropriate action.”
The New York Times building stands in Midtown on 7 February, 2024 in New York City. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)Getty Images
According to WSJ, Frost gained access to the group chat in November, just a month after the October 7 atrocities and the subsequent formation of the group, which was made up of people with various political, religious and cultural leanings and intended to provide support amid a climate fraught with antisemitism.
In December, several members of the group began calling for action against the Australian Broadcasting Corporation over its decision to hire journalist Antoinette Lattouf for a five-day gig as a morning radio show host after she posted on social media accusing Israel of committing war crimes.
After ABC cut Lattouf’s contract short, prompting her to file a complaint alleging that she was terminated unlawfully, Frost co-wrote a story for the Times about Lattouf’s firing. Before the story was published, she left the WhatsApp group. The story went online on 23 January and, not long after, details from the chat began to leak online.
The nearly 900-page transcript of the WhatsApp chat was reportedly accompanied by a spreadsheet that contained the names and other personal details of almost 600 people. The “Zio600” list, aimed at isolating “Zionists,” led to the online and in-person harassment of numerous members of the WhatsApp group, including gift shop owner Joshua Moshe, who said he and his wife were called baby killers and genocidal maniacs in menacing emails and phone calls.
Natasha Frost, New York Times[Missing Credit]
Their shop in northern Melbourne was vandalised several times, including with stickers displaying a crossed-out Israeli flag and the word “boycott.”
Moshe said one woman who left an expletive-laced voicemail then texted him a photo of his 5-year-old son. The family was forced to close their shop, moving locations to a different neighbourhood, but Moshe said the harassment has persisted.
A high-school teacher at a Jewish school in Melbourne, also a member of the group chat, said people called the school to tell them that she was “complicit in genocide.” She also received threats, prompting her to install security cameras in her home.
The incident has prompted the Australian government to push forward a new law that would include a criminal penalty for doxing.
Mark Dreyfus, the Jewish attorney general of Australia, told reporters in February: “The increasing use of online platforms to harm people through practices like doxing, the malicious release of their personal information without their permission, is a deeply disturbing development.”
In a statement released in May, the government announced its plans to “bring forward legislation in early August to outlaw the release of private information online with an intent to cause harm,” complementing a more widespread effort to reform the country’s privacy protections online.
