human-flesh search

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English[edit]

Etymology[edit]

Possibly a back-formation from human flesh search engine.

Noun[edit]

human-flesh search (plural human-flesh searches)

  1. Research at an Internet forum where questions may be posed for other people to answer.
    • 3 March 2010, The New York Times, China's Cyberposse
      Mop had a forum called human-flesh search engine, where users could pose questions about entertainment trivia that other users would answer: a type of crowd-sourcing.
  2. Vigilante justice where Internet users collaborate to find people and punish them by public exposure, harassment, or intimidation.
    • 3 March 2010, The New York Times, China's Cyberposse
      Human-flesh search engines — renrou sousuo yinqing — have become a Chinese phenomenon: they are a form of online vigilante justice in which Internet users hunt down and punish people who have attracted their wrath.