NYT reporter responsible for data leak in Jewish Whatsapp group chat

The New York Times has taken disciplinary action against an employee who disclosed the personal information of a group of Jewish business owners earlier this year.

Earlier this year, the personal information of hundreds of Australians in a private WhatsApp group chat for Jewish businesspeople surfaced online. The individuals affected reportedly received death threats and their businesses were vandalised.

The group, which comprises over 600 people, was founded after the Hamas terrorist attack on October 7 last year.

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Natasha Frost, a NYT reporter from Melbourne, Australia, is accused of leaking hundreds of pages of data from a private WhatsApp group of Jewish businesses in the area.

Frost told the Wall Street Journal that she shared the data with only one person before it was subsequently made available to a wider audience of anti-Israel protesters.

“It has been brought to our attention that a New York Times reporter inappropriately disclosed information to the subject of a story in order to assist the individual with a private matter. This represents a clear violation of our ethics,” a New York Times spokeswoman said, according to the Wall Street Journal.

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“This was done without the knowledge or consent of The Times,” the spokeswoman clarified.

Attorney General Mark Dreyfus speaks to the media in Canberra, Australia. Dreyfus proposed a law that would officially recognise doxxing as a crime after the WhatsApp leak published the personal information of over 600 people in Melbourne. (Martin Ollman/Getty Images)

Frost remains a New York Times employee. She provided a statement to the Wall Street Journal through a company spokesperson.

“I disclosed this document to an individual. Its subsequent distribution and misuse occurred entirely without my knowledge or consent,” Frost said, according to the Journal.

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She added: “I was shocked by these events, which put me and many others in terrible danger. I deeply regret my decision.”

The data leak and the harassment that followed inspired Mark Dreyfus, Australia's Jewish Attorney General, to propose a law that explicitly bans doxxing.

“The increasing use of online platforms to harm people through practices such as doxxing, the malicious publication of their personal data without their permission, is a deeply worrying development,” Dreyfus said.