Doxxed by Mistake: Internet Mob Targets Wrong Man in Cornell Case

How fast does an online mob move once it thinks it has a target? Fast enough to doxx the wrong man entirely, according to a report flagged on-air by Joe Getty.

Getty said he'd come across a case tied to the ongoing Cornell controversy — a group of individuals dubbed online as the "Cornell 7" — in which someone with no connection to the matter beyond a shared name is now being tracked down, threatened, and harassed. The actual person of interest and the harassment target, Getty said, are two different people who happen to go by the same name.

"He's the wrong one of his name," Getty said. "But the internet doesn't care."

Co-host Jack Armstrong's response was dry: "Imagine that."

Neither host offered further detail on what the man is accused of or by whom, and no additional reporting on the mix-up was cited beyond Getty's summary. The exchange was brief — a line item in a broader rundown of the day's stories — but it lands at a moment when online identification efforts in politically charged cases routinely outrun verification. Names get attached to allegations, screenshots circulate, and by the time anyone checks whether the name matches the right person, the harassment has already started.

There's no suggestion from either host that platforms or law enforcement are tracking the harassment, and no indication the mistakenly targeted man has spoken publicly. The segment moved on to other headlines within moments, with no follow-up promised.

The larger point, left implicit, is one that keeps resurfacing in cases like this: a shared name is not evidence, and the people doing the doxxing rarely wait to find out whether they've got it right.