So what was it that Libs of TikTok exposed that sparked the Washington Post and Taylor Lorenz to dox the owner and stalk the owner’s family? Well, TikTok revealed, by simply posting already posted videos of left wing nut bag teachers pedophilia and sex liberation for kids. These videos that revealed these sick teachers were some concealed, Project Veritas type job. These videos that Libs of TikTok posted were simply videos the teachers themselves posted on various social media networks.
Any number of stories could be written about Taylor Lorenz, the Washington Post journalist who covers internet culture. Lorenz — who yesterday raised the hackles of social media for publishing a story revealing the identity of the person behind popular right-wing Twitter account @LibsOfTikTok — is a not merely the chronicler of our too-online age but its fascinating byproduct.
Yet the most basic question about this story has been lost in a sea of drama: what, if anything, has this formerly nameless woman done to deserve having her identity exposed? If you ask Lorenz, such coverage is warranted because LibsOfTikTok has “become a powerful cross-platform social media influencer, spreading anti-LGBTQ+ sentiment and fueling the right wing media’s outrage machine.”
Or, as a follower of Lorenz put it in a tweet that Lorenz retweeted, “libsoftiktok creates targets in a violent culture war against lgbtq people, some of whom have already been harassed out of their jobs.” The follower elaborated, “I completely agree there needs to be a high bar for reporting about someone anonymous. An influencer who sets the agenda for the culture war online and on TV, and who influences lawmakers? Absolutely, in the public interest. Random queer teachers? Absolutely not.”
Putting aside the notion that what Lorenz and her sympathizers are describing is activism, not journalism, it sounds like LibsOfTikTok is up to some bad behavior. These random queer teachers were just minding their business only to be singled out as targets in a violent culture war? How toxic!