Washington Post writer Taylor Lorenz has found herself in the social media spotlight for a new article that identified the anonymous creator of Libs of TikTok, a Twitter (NYSE:TWTR) account that has become popular with conservatives for reposting videos that alleged to show educators pushing an LGBTQ sociopolitical mission in their schools.
What Happened: Lorenz’s article "Meet the woman behind Libs of TikTok, secretly fueling the right's outrage machine" was published Tuesday morning and identified the individual behind the account as a Brooklyn real estate broker who was among the participants of the Capitol Hill riot on Jan. 6, 2021.
Libs of TikTok has been on Twitter since November 2020 and gained its first major wave of attention when Joe Rogan called it "one of the greatest f***ing accounts of all time" on his Spotify (NYSE:SPOT) podcast.
According to Lorenz’s coverage, the Libs of TikTok account receives videos from followers that allegedly show teachers addressing students in a manner that some right-wingers call "grooming" their students to push an LGBTQ agenda. Lorenz’s article stated some teachers were fired from their jobs after videos of them surfaced on this Twitter page.
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What Happened Next: Lorenz’s reporting was first brought to light Monday evening by Christina Pushaw, the press secretary for Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who claimed the account was responsible for "opening her eyes" to the alleged “grooming” indoctrinations in her state’s public school system. Lorenz contacted Pushaw by email, which Pushaw shared on Twitter with a clown emoji meant to represent Lorenz.
The individual behind the Libs of TikTok account posted a photograph of a masked Lorenz showing up at the door of a relative while in pursuit of confirming the account owner’s identity. The photo came with the tweet, “Hi @TaylorLorenz! Which of my relatives did you enjoy harassing the most at their homes yesterday?”
Several prominent conservative commentators expressed outrage over Lorenz’s article, accusing her of doxing (the act of posting personal data regarding an anonymous individual) and hypocrisy. Lorenz appeared on MSNBC earlier this month and offered a tearful recollection of being harassed by online denizens, a point raised by Donald Trump Jr.
“Wasn’t this psycho on tv 2 weeks ago actually crying about the exact type of behavior that seems to be her exact business model,” tweeted Trump. “If only she tried to report on real bad actors rather than a random personalities on social… but we know that won’t happen.”
Jack Posobiec, host of Human Events Daily, tweeted, “This isn’t journalism. This is doxxing and smearing of @libsoftiktok by the billionaire-controlled Bezos Post.”
J.D. Vance, author of “Hillbilly Elegy” and candidate for the Republican nomination for Ohio’s U.S. Senate seat, blamed Post publisher and former Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) CEO Jeff Bezos when he tweeted, “Bezos's mouthpiece (the Washington Post) doxxing Libs of Tik Tok is further evidence that the purpose of the corporate media is industrial scale harassment. Time for defamation reform for the media, and to break up their Big Tech enablers.”
Vance also added, “Remember what they did to the Covington Catholic kids, Rittenhouse, and now this. These sociopaths will respond to one thing: consequences.”
And conservative media personality Mike Cernovich opined, “Taylor Lorenz and the Washington Post are intending to incite violence against a woman for the crime of operating an anonymous twitter account, WaPo and Lorenz know that Libs of TikToks faces death threats from ANTIFA. This can only be described as terrorism.”
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For her part, Lorenz’s Twitter account did not address the right-wing criticism of her coverage, but instead retweeted supportive messages from other journalists while insisting she was fighting a homophobic entity encouraged by conservatives.
“Yes, an acct whose goal is driving LGBTQ ppl out of public life is bad. Gay/trans ppl targeted by the acct have had their lives destroyed, but the *point* of the story is actually a nuanced look at radicalization & how the right wing outrage cycle functions," she tweeted. "That’s worth covering. This is ultimately a story about how online influence warps our political discourse and shapes policy, as well as the right wing media’s symbiotic relationship w/ a massive political influencer.”
Lorenz doesn't appear eager for a Twitter debate with her detractors — her account’s settings only allow for responses by people she follows or mentions.
As for the woman running Libs of TikTok, she responded to the situation by tweeting, “Taylor Lorenz says online harassment is a huge problem because it’s a tool to silence people especially women. The irony.”
Photo: Kon Zografos / Pixabay
