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Washington Post Publishes Straight-Up Propaganda Piece Outing ‘Libs of TikTok’

by | Apr 20, 2022

by Ailan Evans

 

Washington Post reporter Taylor Lorenz exposed the identity behind the “Libs Of TikTok” Twitter account in an article that widely characterized exposure of questionable school policy and problematic teacher-student interactions as “anti-LGBT.”

Rather than grapple with the issues the account brought to light — some of which resulted in discipline of teachers — Lorenz drew on interviews from left-wing activists at the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the left-wing organization Media Matters, who predictably supported the narrative that exposing controversial classroom instruction to the public at large essentially amounts to bigotry for the transgender and gay community.
Absent from Lorenz’s article were specifics that might cut across the reality The Washington Post sought to impart on readers, as well as individuals voicing their support for the account. The Libs Of TikTok account rose to prominence by simply reposting crazed gender- and race-focused rants far left teachers themselves posted on social media.
A few notable examples include a transgender teacher who made sexual jokes with her students who was reportedly investigated and reprimanded, a teacher who was reportedly dismissed after he told children “if your parents don’t accept you for who you are, fuck them,” a teacher who said “parents need to stay the fuck out of classrooms,” and a teacher who was reportedly investigated and placed on leave after saying he would throw a child at anyone who mask shamed him at school.
Libs Of TikTok’s explosion in popularity coincides with a national reckoning between parents and educators about what exactly is appropriate for very young students to learn in school.

“An honest journalist, working at an honest newspaper, would run exposés on the rise of America’s sexualized education system,” Terry Schilling, president of the pro-family political advocacy organization American Principles Project, told the DCNF. “They’d interview the hundreds of teachers who are posting public videos bragging about how they are sexualizing children without parents’ knowledge.”

“But we aren’t dealing with an honest journalist or an honest newspaper. Instead, Taylor Lorenz and The Washington Post are targeting the person who is doing their job for them. The people who should be exposed are the teachers sexualizing children, not the citizen journalist exposing them,” Schilling added.

The Washington Post article included the name, profession and city of residence of Chaya Raichik, who reportedly runs the Libs of TikTok account. Lorenz also shared a link to her real estate license, which lists her address, although that link has since ben removed from the article. She made a point of noting that Raichik is an Orthodox Jew.

Libs of TikTok claimed Lorenz showed up at the private homes of her relatives and shared what appears to be a photo of Lorenz knocking on the front door of a house.

Lorenz claimed the account attacked the LGBT community and was a driving force behind right wing media and a wave of conservative legislation addressing LGBT issues.

“Libs of TikTok posts videos of far left gender activists that they themselves have posted online,” Ian Prior, executive director of Fight for Schools, told the DCNF. “In doing so, Libs of TikTok is engaging in actual journalism, unlike the pathetic doxxing hit piece from Lorenz and her editors that is nothing more than an attempt by a major media outlet to intimidate someone for exercising their First Amendment rights.”

Fight for Schools is a political action committee aimed at improving Loudoun County, Virginia schools by emphasizing merit-based programs in education. Prior denied Lorenz’s framing that the Libs of TikTok account was anti-LGBT.

“This is not anti-anything; it is letting people see what is going on with gender ideology and letting them come to their own conclusions,” he told the DCNF.

Lorenz frequently complains about online harassment and “doxxing,” the practice of sharing a person’s private information, such as their address, to open them up to harassment, stalking and threats to their personal safety. She claimed to suffer from “severe PTSD” from online harassment and said she had contemplated suicide while sobbing in an MSNBC interview March 1.

“[D]oxxing, stalking, trying to hurt and smear ppl’s loves ones, threatening them, it’s not ok in any situation. Ppl on here who constantly stoke these politicized outrage campaigns want to dismiss it, but it shouldn’t be dismissed. Has very real consequences,” Lorenz wrote on Twitter April 3.

Lorenz’s story also highlighted Libs of TikTok’s relationship with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ press secretary Christina Pushaw, who frequently interacts with the account.

“Taylor Lorenz reached out to me last night, an hour before her deadline, to request a comment on my ‘relationship with Libs of TikTok’ (in her words),” Pushaw told the Daily Caller News Foundation.

“Instead of reporting on the degenerates and predators who work with children and boast about their escapades on social media, Taylor Lorenz is “exposing” an account that only exists to hold a mirror up to those degenerates and predators in order to protect children,” Pushaw told the DCNF. “Why would a Washington Post journalist have a problem with this?”

Lorenz earned notoriety for publicly airing former White House advisor Kellyanne Conway’s family drama by messaging her then-15-year-old daughter. She falsely accused tech entrepreneur Marc Andreessen of using the “r-word” (retarded) before admitting someone else had actually said it.

Lorenz also wrote an article in 2018 revealing that the mother of several prominent Instagram influencers, whom the young women did not discuss publicly, was an “anti-Islam activist” and “hate-monger,” and the girls’ social media show was cancelled by the tech platform Oath within days.

Lorenz and The Washington Post did not respond to the DCNF’s requests for comment.

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Ailan Evans is a reporter at Daily Caller News Foundation.
Photo “TikTok” by iXimus. Background Photo “Washington Post” by Daniel X. O’Neil. CC BY 2.0.

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