How would police identify an anonymous Reddit user for a welfare check?
I made a post in my city’s subreddit discussing alcohol use and asking for local resources. I didn’t post my name, address, phone number, or threats of self-harm.
About 12–16 hours later, police came to my home for a welfare check and told me it was related to Reddit posts I’d made the previous night.
My anonymous account wasn’t directly connected to my real name. However, someone who investigated my post history could potentially have connected details from it to posts I’d previously made elsewhere, including other platforms, and eventually obtain my first name and approximate neighbourhood.
I’ve also had previous interactions with the same police service, so they would already have records containing my identity/address.
I understand the caller’s identity may be confidential. What I’m trying to understand is the identification process.
If a caller only provided something like my first name, approximate age/neighbourhood and social-media posts, could police potentially identify me from their own records and determine my address?
Or would the caller generally need to provide my full identity/address for a welfare check like this?
Is it realistic that Reddit itself provided identifying/account information within ~12–16 hours for a non-imminent welfare concern, or would that generally require a formal emergency request/process?
I’m in Canada, if that makes a difference.