Libs of TikTok logo
“”The LGBTQ community has become this cult... I think they’re evil. And sometimes we try to break it down a lot and we discuss why this is happening, what's happening, whatever, and I think sometimes the simplest answer is they're just evil. They're bad people. They're evil people. And they want to groom kids.
—Raichik spews hate on Tucker Carlson Today.[1]
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Libs of TikTok is a far-right anti-LGBT Twitter account run by Chaya Raichik. The account has become highly influential in conservative circles, and it has over 1.8 million followers as of January 2023.[2] The central narrative pushed by the account is "grooming", the lie claiming that LGBT people are pedophiles manipulating children into sexual deviancy.[3] The concept went mainstream after Florida governor Ron DeSantis signed a law banning classroom instruction on gender identity or sexual orientation in grades K-3 in Florida public schools, with his press secretary accusing the bill's opponents of being "groomers".[3]

Raichik's posts on Twitter have been directly linked to transphobic and homophobic threats, violence, and attempted terrorist attacks. Incidents include bomb threats against a school in Wisconsin, a near-riot at Idaho Pride, and threats against a Jewish summer camp.[4] False claims that Children's National, Boston Children's and other pediatric hospitals were performing gender-affirming surgeries on children led to the hospitals being inundated with harassment and threats of violence.[5] Boston Children's Hospital received three bomb threats within just a couple of months.[6] The account again received national attention in November 2022, when it drew attention to a Colorado-based drag charity only hours after a gay night club massacre in Colorado Springs.[7]

Background[edit]

Chaya Raichik is a New York City-based real estate agent and is an Orthodox Jew.[8] Within the Chabad-Lubavitch community, "Chaya" is a common female given name, typically given in tribute to Chaya Mushka Schneerson.Wikipedia[9] Raichik is similarly a common surname among Chabad Jews.[10][9] This has led to cases of mistaken identity. An influencer named Chaya Raichik, originally from Los Angeles but now residing in England, was harassed by trolls after a journalist mistook her for LoTT.[9] (Many clickbait profiles of LoTT use photos taken from this woman's Instagram.) Another NYC-based Chaya Raichik, author of a book about the Jewish ritual bathing practice known as mikvehWikipedia, quips on her website that she is "not a real estate agent" and "also not a twitter, instagram or tiktock [sic] influencer."[11][12]

Building a hate machine[edit]

Early activity[edit]

In November 2020, Raichik created the Twitter account that would become @libsoftiktok under the handle @shaya69830552, changing this to @shaya_ray before the end of the month.[8] Initially, Raichik ran a typical right-wing "reply account", responding to tweets from more prominent conservatives.[13] She trafficked in far-right fodder like COVID-19 denialism and 2020 U.S. presidential election conspiracy theories.[8]

On January 6, 2021, Raichik used her Twitter account to document her presence at the 2021 U.S. Capitol riot.[8][13][14] In a play-by-play account, she indicated that she got close to the clash with Capitol police, tweeting that a rubber bullet "hit right next to me" and sharing a video labelled "tear gas in action."[8][13] Afterwards, she downplayed the violence during the riot, claiming that only "a few crazy people" actually "stormed the capitol and went inside," and asserting it was "very peaceful" in contrast to a BLM protest.[8][15] Examination of video and photos of the Capitol riot after Raichik's first in-person interview with Tucker Carlson in December 2022 appear to confirm her presence.[16][17]

Rise to lame[edit]

“”The role I've seen this account playing is finding new characters for right-wing propaganda. It's relying on the endless stream of content from TikTok and the Internet to cast any individual trans person as a new villain in their story.
—Gillian Branstetter, ACLU media strategist.[8]

Raichik cycled through multiple Twitter handles in early 2021, finally settling on @libsoftiktok on April 19, 2021.[8] The Libs of TikTok account initially promised to "help you find your daily dose of cringe," re-posting pro-vaccination songs found on TikTok.[18] It deliberately pivoted to anti-LGBT content for Pride Month in June 2021.[18] This shift quickly launched the LoTT account into ring-wing celebrity status.[18] The account grew from less than 1,000 followers in early 2021 to 1.3 million in September 2022,[19] amplified by exposure from well-known conservatives like Joe Rogan, Tucker Carlson, and Glenn Greenwald.[8]

The LoTT account's current schtick involves re-posting content from left-leaning and LGBT people. Raichik and her defenders claim that these reposts simply "hold a mirror up to the left".[20] Tucker Carlson, in his December 2022 interview of Raichik, stated that what she has done through LoTT is "bring to light, publicize what they ['libs'] are already saying in public."[20] What these analyses neglect is that Raichik isn't simply an unbiased reporter, but a propagandist who strategically packages reposted content in a misleading, inflammatory manner.[21] The LoTT account exists to bring LGBT and left-learning targets to the attention of a hostile far-right audience.[21][22] Critics have pointed to this as an example of stochastic terrorismWikipedia that allows Raichik to maintain a veneer of plausible deniability while inciting her followers to action.[22][23]

Raichik seemingly had ambitions of building Libs of TikTok into a brand from an early stage. A trademark application for the account's first logo (based on the stylized TikTok musical note) was filed by Federalist Society-associated lawyer Grant Lally in August 2021.[24] The current logo was registered by Lally in December 2021.[24] Raichik registered the domain LibsofTikTok.us under her own name in October 2021.[8][25] Seth Dillon, her business associate, first incorporated Libs of TikTok LLC in Delaware in December 2021, and then as a foreign corporation in Florida in March 2022.[24]

Identity revelation[edit]

Washington Post article[edit]

A woman (center, in red MAGA hat) identified by some sources as Chaya Raichik at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021.[16]

Libs of TikTok was nominally an anonymous account[note 1] until Washington Post reporter Taylor LorenzWikipedia broke the story that identified its owner as Chaya Raichik on April 19, 2022.[8] This provoked accusations of "doxxing" from the conservative commentariat.[26][27][28] Alt-right YouTuber Tim Pool, with the help of Daily Wire co-founder and razor peddler Jeremy BoreingWikipedia, went so far as to buy a billboard in Times Square proclaiming "Taylor Lorenz doxxed @libsoftiktok."[29][30][31] Raichik echoed this accusation against Lorenz, stating that her critics were seeking to "intimidate [her] into silence," and vowing that "unfortunately for them, that's just never going to happen."[32] The LoTT account nonetheless gained 200,000 followers in the 24 hours after the article's publication.[4][28]

Lorenz has stated that, while investigating the story, she visited a Los Angeles address "linked to Raichik's name", but that the woman who answered the door "declined to identify herself."[8][33] The Chaya Raichik from LA (mentioned above) confirmed in an interview with the The ForwardWikipedia that this woman was her mother.[9] By her account, she belatedly discovered several "urgent" inquiries from Lorenz on the night of April 17, having not used her phone for two days due to Passover.[9] Lorenz was trying to confirm whether she was behind LoTT.[9] She replied, telling Lorenz "you have the wrong Chaya," and asked Lorenz to leave her alone.[9] Lorenz visited her mother's residence on April 18.[9] That same day, the Chaya Raichik of LoTT fame somehow caught wind of this incident, asking Glenn Greenwald to report it to "deter Taylor from stalking more people."[33] Greenwald blasted out a tweet charging that Lorenz "showed up at the house of the relatives of the citizen behind @libsoftiktok and badgered them."[34] (Reporters have noted such visitations are standard journalistic practice.[33][35]) The Chaya Raichik from LA asserts she has never met LoTT and does not know how they are related.[9]

For her part, Lorenz maintains that her detractors are attempting to "sow doubt and discredit journalism,"[36] and both she and the Post have stood by the integrity of her reporting.[27] In a tweet, Lorenz revealed that, due to the article on LoTT, her family and even "random friends I've tagged on Instagram" had been doxxed and stalked.[37]

Jewish community reaction[edit]

A group of 2,000 Orthodox rabbis belonging to the conservative lobby group the Coalition for Jewish ValuesWikipedia released a statement demanding that the Washington Post apologize for outing Raichik soon after the publication of Lorenz's article.[38] The rabbis held that her faith was "entirely unrelated" to the story, deeming its revelation "simply unacceptable" given that "Jews constitute a small minority, yet are disproportionally targeted by hate crimes."[38]

Andrew Silow-CarrollWikipedia, writing in the Pittsburgh Jewish ChronicleWikipedia, countered that "Jews are visible and assertive in public life," questioning why Raichik "deserves special handling" when she has "willingly placed herself at the white-hot center of our national argument."[39] Elad NehoraiWikipedia of the Forward was far more pointed in his judgment that the LoTT account is a "shanda" (disgrace) that is "fueling an early-stage pogrom against trans youth and their allies."[4] He compared LoTT's propagation of the "groomer trope" to the antisemitic blood libels of the past, finding that it "preys on people's fear for their children, which then justifies the most extreme actions in response."[4]

In an article by Ron KampeasWikipedia of the Jewish Telegraph Agency, Elchanan Poupko, a Modern OrthodoxWikipedia rabbi, speculated that the anger over Raichik's unmasking expressed within the Orthodox community may have been influenced by cultural mores.[10] According to Poupko, "there remains a degree of stigma associated with posting on social media among haredi Orthodox Jews" given their traditional avoidance of technology, but that it can be "all right to engage, but it's better if it's done anonymously."[10] Kampeas noted that women "within both haredi communities and the Chabad movement" are becoming more active on social media, developing "influencer personas" with focuses as "diverse as religious observance, fashion, parenting and antiracism." Poupko further observed that Orthodox women have more freedom on social media than Orthodox men due to the "belief that women are better equipped than men to withstand temptation."[10]

The rise of LoTT has drawn wider attention to the spread of far-right ideology within Orthodox spaces.[10][39][40] In his JTA article, Kampeas noted that Raichik isn't unique as an "Orthodox Trump supporter", remarking that she is "renewing conversation about how deeply some members of the Orthodox community are embedded in the American far right."[10] Left-leaning Hasidic Twitter user Shulim Leifer has attributed this shift to the development of an ecosystem of "pithy and withering" Orthodox political dialogue within "closed groups on apps like WhatsApp."[10] He further mused that "anyone shocked that a frum [devout] person could be an unhinged right-wing maniac" has not looked at their friends' WhatsApp statuses "for the last 6 years."[10] Joshua Shanes, in a trenchant piece for the blog Jewschool, declared that "Orthodoxy – and Chabad especially – has become a MAGA religion."[40] Twitter user @EvelKneidelWikipedia has similarly remarked that the "rapid radicalization of orthodox communities in recent years is dark and twisted."[39]

Painting a target on her ideological opponents[edit]

Boston Children's Hospital received bomb threats due to misinformation spread in part by Libs of Tiktok.
“”We've reached this phase in social media where people know what to do when an account like Libs of TikTok calls out another account or a person or institution... The online threat escalates very quickly into offline violence when we start to see these patterns of attack.
—Joan Donovan, research director at Harvard University's Shorenstein Center.[5]

Libs of TikTok has been credited as one of the driving forces behind a wave of anti-LGBT hate and violence in 2022.[41][42] Her most frequent targets are all-ages and youth-focused drag events, healthcare providers that offer gender-affirming care to young people, and elementary and high schools supportive of LGBT students.[23]

Hospitals and healthcare providers[edit]

Drag events and drag performers[edit]

Schools and teachers[edit]

"Groomer" slur[edit]

Hateful slander linking queerness to pedophilia is nothing new. From at least the 1960s, gay men were accused of "recruiting" or "grooming" boys into homosexuality, typically through the insinuation of abuse.[3][79] This moral panic was revivedWikipedia beginning in the early 2020s.[3][79][80] "Groomer" emerged as a general slur for LGBT people during this time.[3][79][80]

Libs of TikTok's popularity has been credited with spreading the "groomer" narrative.[3] Raichik first accused the LGBT community of "grooming kids" in a pair of June 2021 tweets.[18] For a time, she avoided the slur, but picked it up again in November 2021, declaring the LGBT suicide-prevention charity The Trevor ProjectWikipedia to be a "grooming organization."[18] Twitter banned the use of slur in mid-2022, stating it was "committed to combating abuse motivated by hatred, prejudice, or intolerance."[81][82] However, enforcement of this policy at the time was described as "uneven," "patchy", and "lacking," a situation some attributed to Twitter's then-ongoing buyout by a certain chud billionaire.[81][82][83][84]

On October 27, 2022, the day that Elon Musk officially took over Twitter, Libs of TikTok published a tweet containing nothing but the word "groomer" repeated 13 times, apparently testing whether the new management intended to let her practice freeze peach without consequence.[85] A joint study by Media Matters and GLAADWikipedia found that use of the "groomer" slur skyrocketed on Twitter in the two months after Musk's acquisition.[86] Libs of TikTok's mentions saw a 600% increase of the slur in that period, jumping from almost 2,000 instances to almost 14,000.[86]

A little help from one's friends[edit]

Seth Dillon[edit]

The rise of Libs of TikTok was apparently championed by Seth Dillon, the owner of the The Babylon Bee, a Christian conservative knock-off of The Onion. In April 2022, after Raichik was identified as the face behind the LoTT account by a Washington Post report, Dillon announced that he was financially supporting her.[87] In a tweet, Dillon proclaimed that "[Raichik] won't be canceled from her job because this *is* her job now. I've worked out a deal with her that will turn her heroic, high-risk work into a career."[15][87] Dillon registered Libs of TikTok LLC in December 2021.[24] Raichik tweeted a photo of her and Dillon together around this time (albeit with her face blacked out).[24]

Elon Musk[edit]

In September 2022, after the Libs of TikTok account was temporarily suspended from Twitter, Dillon announced that Raichik would sue Twitter if the suspension was permanent.[87] The official Babylon Bee Twitter account had been suspended for misgendering U.S. assistant health secretary Rachel LevineWikipedia in March 2022.[88] According to Dillon, Elon Musk personally reached out to him to confirm the Bee's suspension, reportedly musing that "he might need to buy Twitter."[89] Musk actually offered to purchase Twitter for $44 billion soon thereafter, seemingly so that Dillon could keep making transphobic jokes.[note 3]

In December 2022, two months into his farcical, fortune-obliterating acquisition of Twitter, Musk released the "Twitter FilesWikipedia" through "left-leaning centrist" journalist Bari WeissWikipedia. The exposé purportedly revealed that Libs of TikTok, along with other conservative-aligned accounts, was subjected to selective policy enforcement and shadowbanning prior to Musk's takeover.[90] Instead, the "Twitter Files" revealed that LoTT received preferential treatment, with moderators being explicitly directed not to take action against the account, but rather to elevate concerns to the highest level of management.[23] This seemingly confirms reports that Twitter took a light-touch approach to enforcing its policies against anti-LGBT hate speech during the interim between Musk's bid and acquisition.[81][83][82][84]

Musk's brave new Freeze Peach regime at Twitter has predictably been a disaster. He purposely reinstated scores of accounts previously suspended for hateful conduct (bringing back The Babylon Bee was reportedly his top priority[91]) while suspending journalists for purely retaliatory reasons.[note 4] This included temporarily suspending Taylor Lorenz for the "prior doxxing action" of writing the WaPo article about LoTT's identity in April.[92] Twitter's content moderation system has been gutted by Musk's mass staff layoffs.[93] He has reportedly ordered a "review" of Twitter's policy against deadnaming and misgendering trans people.[94] Hate speech has surged on Twitter under these conditions.[95] Musk, unsurprisingly, has been buddying up to Libs of TikTok, and has liked her tweets.[96][97]

DeSantis administration[edit]

Libs of TikTok has cultivated ties with Florida governor Ron DeSantis and his hardline anti-LGBT administration. According to a Media Matters report, Raichik interacted with Christina PushawWikipedia, DeSantis' press secretary, over 130 times on Twitter between June 2021 and April 2022.[98][99] During this time, Pushaw mentioned Libs of TikTok in 97 tweets, and Raichik mentioned Pushaw in 41 tweets.[98] Pushaw has praised LoTT as "one of the best accounts" on Twitter and has credited LoTT with having "truly opened [her] eyes" on LGBT issues.[98][99]

Pushaw has directly plied LoTT for more information on Florida-based educators she has targeted, with the seeming intent of enforcing the "Florida Parental Rights in Education ActWikipedia", a 2022 state law banning instruction on gender identity and sexual orientation for K-3 students.[98][99] On March 4, 2022, weeks before the law went into effect, Pushaw tweeted her objection to the "Don't Say Gay" moniker that "liberals" have "inaccurately" attached to it, insisting it "would be more accurately described as an Anti-Grooming Bill."[3][99] Raichik endorsed the "Don't Say Gay" bill as "literally genius" for having made "all the creeps come out and identify themselves as pro-grooming" on March 10.[98]

Raichik with Marjorie Taylor Greene in 2023.

In December 2022, Raichik revealed that after her identity was disclosed by the Washington Post, DeSantis had someone reach out to her offering to allow her to "come and stay as long as [she] need[s]" in his governor's mansionWikipedia if she wanted "a place to go, to hide, to stay."[100][101] She apparently declined the offer but expressed that she was "almost in tears" that DeSantis had taken time out of his "extremely busy schedule" to have someone "call [her] to make sure [she was] safe."[100][101]

The Grand Old Party[edit]

Donald Trump, DeSantis's chief rival for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, invited Raichik and Seth Dillon to dine with him at his Mar-a-Lago estate in January 2023.[102][103] Raichik shared a photo of her and Trump giving the thumps-up sign and added in a second tweet that she had asked Trump if his "first tweet back [since his Twitter reinstatement] can be retweeting this".[102][103]

Raichik spoke (or at least tried) to a mostly-empty room on the first day of the Conservative Political Action ConferenceWikipedia (CPAC) in March 2023.[104][105] The panel discussion was dedicated to mocking openly gay journalist Don LemonWikipedia and included fellow D-list conservative celebs L. Brent Bozell IIIWikipedia, Larry O'ConnorWikipedia, and Kurt Schlichter.[104][105] It included a bizarre skit in which Bozell claimed, "If I ever transition, I want to be Chaya," prompting O'Connell to give him a wad of cash in an apparent lost bet.[104] Raichik, whose reaction was described as "befuddled," repeatedly asked for clarification, but the men ignored her.[104]

Shopify[edit]

Raichik operates a store hawking Libs of TikTok junk through Ottawa-based e-commerce platform ShopifyWikipedia.[106] Shopify has refused to remove LoTT's store from its service despite having policies banning hateful content.[106][107] The company has gone as far as directing customer-service employees to ignore complaints about LoTT.[107] The site's founder, German cryptobro Tobias LütkeWikipedia,[note 5] has reportedly blocked anyone who asks him about LoTT on Twitter.[107]

External links[edit]

Notes[edit]

  1. ↑ One of the many handles cycled through by the account in early 2021 was @ChayaRaichik with the display name "Chaya Raichik." This means Raichik publicly revealed her wallet name to the world over a year before Lorenz's article was published. The domain LibsofTikTok.us was registered in her name in October 2021. Raichik's identity could have been deduced before Lorenz's article by anyone who knew how to do a WHOISWikipedia search or look up a Twitter account ID. It's also worth noting that software developer Travis Brown first connected the dots between Raichik and the LoTT account (Lorenz duly credits his work in her article).
  2. ↑ An anonymous user of 4chan claimed on September 22 that a student of Kayla Lemieux – the fake breast-wearing shop teacher in question – had posted the previous day. This student reportedly stated that Lemieux was "almost fired for 'toxic masculinity'" in 2021 due to "drop[ing] redpills to [the] class" such as ranting about gender-neutral bathrooms. The September 22 poster speculated that Lemieux is only pretending to be a trans woman in order to "get fired, and then sue for discrimination." Conservative outlets have similarly speculated that Lemieux could be pulling an elaborate stunt to own the libs: American Thinker wondered if they were looking at a "conservative troll", UnHerd asked if the case might be a "hoax", and PJ Media said Lemieux might be the "hero we need right now." Trans-rights supporters, in a rare moment of agreement with transphobes, seem to largely concur with the assessment that Lemieux is a troll.
  3. ↑ Musk also hates trans people, including, it seems, his own daughter.
  4. ↑ In some cases, Musk seems to have brought the banhammer down on strictly ideological grounds, as in the targeted suspensions of anti-fascist researcher Chad Loder and an anti-fascist, pro-LGBT gun club in late November 2022. An internal memo leaked in January 2023 confirmed that Loder was banned at Musk's personal direction. Trans Berkeley professor Grace Lavery curiously only had her account reinstated months after Musk welcomed back the likes of Andrew Anglin. Lavery was suspended in February 2022 after being mass-reported by TERFs for a flippant tweet. At the time, Lavery was planning to visit the UK to promote her memoir and debate anti-trans writer Helen Joyce, which lead to a wave of online harassment against Lavery and her mother. When one Twitter transphobe suggested that Lavery be barred from entering the UK despite being a British citizen, alleging she intended to "incite public order offences" on her book tour, Lavery sarcastically replied "oh I hope the queen dies also." Even if one accepts this joke was in poor taste, given Queen Elizabeth II's failing health at the time, the double standard is glaring.
  5. ↑ Tobi Lütke is on the board of directors of crypto exchange CoinbaseWikipedia. His Wikipedia biography currently fails to note this for some reason.

References[edit]

  1. ↑ "Libs of TikTok tells Tucker Carlson: LGBTQ+ are a poisonous cult." Brody Levesque. Los Angeles Blade. December 27, 2022.
  2. ↑ Libs of TikTok. Social Blade.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 What is 'Grooming?' The Truth Behind the Dangerous, Bigoted Lie Targeting the LGBTQ+ Community", ADL
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 Elad Nehorai, "Libs of TikTok is fueling a pogrom against trans youth", Forward, 29 August 2022
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Shannon Bond, "Children's hospitals are the latest target of anti-LGBTQ harassment", NPR, 26 August 2022
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 Susannah Sudborough, "Boston Children’s Hospital received another bomb threat, police say all clear Boston Children’s Hospital received another bomb threat, police say all clear", Boston.com, 16 November 2022
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 Chantelle Billson, "Libs of TikTok attacks Colorado drag shows hours after deadly LGBTQ+ club shooting", Pink News, 21 November 2022
  8. ↑ 8.00 8.01 8.02 8.03 8.04 8.05 8.06 8.07 8.08 8.09 8.10 8.11 8.12 Taylor Lorenz, "Meet the woman behind Libs of TikTok, secretly fueling the right’s outrage machine", Washington Post, 19 April 2022
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 9.3 9.4 9.5 9.6 9.7 9.8 Louis Keene, "Mistaken for a right-wing media star, she met a cyberbullying mob", Forward, 21 April 2022
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 10.3 10.4 10.5 10.6 10.7 Ron Kampeas, "The Twitter activist behind the far-right ‘Libs of TikTok’ is an Orthodox Jew. Does that matter?", Jewish Telegraph Agency, 19 April 2022
  11. ↑ "Jewish. Married. Woman? Treat yourself this Pesach!", COLLive, 7 April 2022
  12. ↑ "Get To Know The Author", MikvehStories.com
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 13.2 Claire Goforth, "Libs of TikTok—the influential, mystery Twitter account hailed by mainstream conservatives—attended Jan. 6 Capitol protest", The Daily Dot, 18 April 2022
  14. ↑ Lily Wakefield, "Shameless anti-LGBT+ social media influencer Libs of TikTok attended Capitol insurrection", Pink News, 19 April 2022
  15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 Chris Persaud, "Libs of TikTok creator backed by Babylon Bee CEO of Juno Beach", The Palm Beach Post, 10 May 2022
  16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 Chad Loder, "Chaya Raichik appears to have trespassed at the Capitol", 27 December 2022
  17. ↑ Lindsay Dodgson, "The woman behind Libs of TikTok revealed her face on Fox News, leading to video seeming to show her at the Capitol on January 6", Insider, 28 December 2022
  18. ↑ 18.0 18.1 18.2 18.3 18.4 Jeremy Stahl, "The Hate-Fueled and Hugely Influential World of Libs of TikTok", Slate, 27 April 2022
  19. ↑ Elizabeth Dwoskin and Jeremy B. Merrill, "Trump’s ‘big lie’ fueled a new generation of social media influencers", Washington Post, 20 September 2022
  20. ↑ 20.0 20.1 Roderick Graham, "LibsofTikTok's Interviews Prove She's Not Unbiased. She's Generating Anti-LGBTQ Hate", Newsweek, 3 January 2023
  21. ↑ 21.0 21.1 Christopher Wiggins, "Club Q Shooting Comes Amid Increased Attacks on LGBTQ+ Venues", Advocate, 20 November 2022
  22. ↑ 22.0 22.1 Catherine Caruso, "Libs of TikTok is Engaging in Stochastic Terrorism", 19 August 2022
  23. ↑ 23.0 23.1 23.2 Even Urquhart, "The Anti-Trans Hate Account That Bari Weiss Says Is Yet Another Right-Wing Voice Censored by Twitter", Slate, 9 December 2022
  24. ↑ 24.0 24.1 24.2 24.3 24.4 ChudsOfTikTok, "The artificial growth of hate speech", 12 December 2022
  25. ↑ Rob Beschizza,"'Libs of TikTok' unmasked in Washington Post exposé", BoingBoing, 19 April 2022
  26. ↑ Grayson Quay, "Conservatives complain of 'doxxing' after exposé reveals woman behind 'Libs of TikTok' account", The Week, 19 April 2022
  27. ↑ 27.0 27.1 Dominick Mastrangelo, "Washington Post defends Taylor Lorenz reporting after story on ‘Libs of TikTok’ Twitter account", The Hill, 19 April 2022
  28. ↑ 28.0 28.1 Christopher Wiggins, "Anti-LGBTQ+ 'Libs of TikTok' Exposed, Conservatives Are Extremely Mad", Advocate, 20 April 2022
  29. ↑ "Times Square Billboard Exposes Taylor Lorenz for Doxxing Libs of TikTok", Washington Free Beacon, 26 April 2022
  30. ↑ Bryan Babb, "'We're Shining A Light On You': Massive Billboard Goes Up In Times Square Slamming The Washington Post", The Daily Caller, 26 April 2022
  31. ↑ Libby Emmons, "Tim Pool blasts WaPo, Taylor Lorenz in Times Square billboard over Libs of Tik Tok doxxing", The Post Millennial, 26 April 2022
  32. ↑ Mark Moore, "Chaya Raichik won't be ‘silenced’ despite ‘Libs of TikTok’ outing", The New York Post, 20 April 2022
  33. ↑ 33.0 33.1 33.2 Madeline Halpert, "Right-Wing Figures Attack Journalist Taylor Lorenz For Revealing Creator Of 'Libs Of TikTok'", Forbes, 19 April 2022
  34. ↑ https://twitter.com/ggreenwald/status/1516218351491633161
  35. ↑ Tom Jones, "Digging into the Taylor Lorenz controversy that should not be a controversy at all", Poynter, 21 April 2022
  36. ↑ "Taylor Lorenz discusses'Libs of TikTok' and her reporting practices", Reliable Sources with Brian Stelter (CNN podcast), 21 April 2022
  37. ↑ Michael Starr, "Unorthodoxxed: US Right, Left clash on orthodox Jewish activist's 'doxxing'", The Jerusalem, 21 April 2022
  38. ↑ 38.0 38.1 Adam Sabes, "Orthodox rabbis demand apology from Washington Post after identifying Libs of TikTok owner as Orthodox Jew", Fox News, 20 April 2022
  39. ↑ 39.0 39.1 39.2 Andrew Silow-Carroll, "Why the 'Libs of TikTok' founder’s Jewish identity was fair game", Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle, 27 April 2022
  40. ↑ 40.0 40.1 Joshua Shanes, "Of course 'libs of tiktok' is Haredi", Jewschool, 2 May 2022
  41. ↑ 41.0 41.1 Taylor Lorenz, Elizabeth Dwoskin, Peter Jamison, "Twitter account Libs of TikTok blamed for harassment of children's hospitals", Washington Post, 2 September 2022
  42. ↑ Reina Sultan, "How Libs of TikTok Became an Anti-LGBTQ+ Hate Machine, Them, 30 September 2022
  43. ↑ Yacob Reyes, "No, Boston Children's Hospital doesn't provide hysterectomies for children", PolitiFact, 12 August 2022
  44. ↑ David Gilbert, "Far-Right Extremists Are Threatening to ‘Execute’ Doctors at a Children’s Hospital", Vice News, 17 August 2022
  45. ↑ Frank O'Laughlin, "Police investigating after another bomb threat made against Boston Children’s Hospital", Boston 25 News, 9 September 2022
  46. ↑ Peter Jamison, "Children’s hospital threatened after Libs of TikTok recording on trans hysterectomies", Washington Post, 27 August 2022
  47. ↑ Harm Venhuizen, "D.C. children’s hospital harassed over trans youth services", Associated Press, 27 August 2022
  48. ↑ Ron Southwick, "Threats and harassment: 24 hospitals targeted for providing gender-affirming care", Chief Healthcare Executive, 18 December 2022
  49. ↑ 49.0 49.1 Kim Bellware, "Proud Boys disrupt drag-queen reading event, prompting hate-crime probe", Washington Post, 13 June 2022
  50. ↑ 50.0 50.1 Dani Anguiano, "Group of men storm Drag Queen Story Hour in California in possible hate crime, The Guardian, 13 June 2022
  51. ↑ 51.0 51.1 Claire Goforth, "'Target selection for domestic terrorists': Libs of TikTok accused of inspiring Proud Boys to menace local drag queen library show", The Daily Dot, 13 June 2022
  52. ↑ Odette Yousef, "31 members of the white nationalist Patriot Front arrested near an Idaho Pride event", NPR, 12 June 2022
  53. ↑ 53.0 53.1 Michael Edison Hayden, Far-Right Influencers Hyped Coeur d’Alene Pride Before Patriot Front Showed Up", Southern Poverty Law Center, 14 June 2022
  54. ↑ Emma Bowman, "Far right groups shift focus to LBGTQ events. Their hateful aim hasn't changed", NPR, 20 June 2022
  55. ↑ Ashleigh-Rae Thomas, "Far-right Twitter account Libs of TikTok targets Ontario LGBTQ2S+ youth centre for hosting drag show", Xtra! Magazine, 15 July 2022
  56. ↑ Brody Levesque, "Libs of TikTok extremist group attacks Canadian LGBTQ youth center", Washington Blade, 11 July 2022
  57. ↑ Shira Li Bartov, "Hours After Club Q Shooting, Right-Wing Account Attacks Colorado Drag Group", Newsweek, 21 November 2022
  58. ↑ Hannah Schoenbaum, "NC power grid attack stokes fear in rural LGBTQ community", Associated Press, 8 December 2022
  59. ↑ Bil Browning, "Woman accused of sabotaging electrical grid to stop drag show says 'extremist leftists' did it," LGBTQ Nation, 8 December 2022
  60. ↑ 60.0 60.1 "Terrorists Attack A Drag Show In Moore County, North Carolina", Pride.com, 4 December 2022
  61. ↑ Lily Wakefield, "Teacher targeted by Libs of TikTok sent death threats and lost his job: 'I was accused of grooming'", Pink News, 20 April 2022
  62. ↑ Scott Martin, "Parents divided after former Owasso teacher resigns following viral TikTok videos", Fox 23 News, 14 April 2022
  63. ↑ 63.0 63.1 Mario Koran, "Bomb threats, canceled events, empty schools: How a bullying probe in Kiel paralyzed the Wisconsin town's democracy", PBS Wisconsin, 3 August 2022
  64. ↑ Mira Fox, "Libs of TikTok is now targeting a Jewish summer camp", Forward, 7 July 2022
  65. ↑ Jackie Hajdenberg, "A Jewish camp is reassuring families amid a ‘social media offensive’ over its inclusion of trans children", Jewish Telegraph Agency, 8 July 2022
  66. ↑ 66.0 66.1 66.2 Beck Andrew Salgado, "Followers of right-wing forum Libs of TikTok harass a Tosa first-grade educator for teaching pronouns at past job", Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 20 July 2022
  67. ↑ Oliver Haugh, "The Conservative Campaign to Attack, Silence, and Harass Queer Teachers", Them, 15 September 2022
  68. ↑ Kevin Connor, "Oakville's Trafalgar High School target of 'anonymous' bomb threat", Toronto Sun, 23 September 2022
  69. ↑ 69.0 69.1 69.2 69.3 Adrian Humphreys, "Bomb threats at Oakville school over trans teacher linked to threats against Boston Children's Hospital", The National Post, 6 December 2022
  70. ↑ 70.0 70.1 Ryan Rocca, "Oakville high school at centre of teacher attire controversy receives bomb threat", Global News, 16 November 2022
  71. ↑ https://twitter.com/Esqueer_/status/1605955688030576640
  72. ↑ Julian Wood, "Bomb threat against California senator linked to Oakville school fears", CanadaToday.com, 9 December 2022
  73. ↑ 73.0 73.1 Matt Kroschel, "UPDATE: Huntsville teacher in drag show uproar says he’s been put on paid leave", WAAY31, 14 October 2022
  74. ↑ 74.0 74.1 Daniel Villarreal, "Animal rescue gets death threats after drag queen reads to dogs", LGBTQ Nation, 15 October 2022
  75. ↑ 75.0 75.1 Christopher Wiggins, "Drag Queen Story Hour Results in Death Threats Against Animal Shelter, Advocate, 17 October 2022
  76. ↑ 76.0 76.1 Madeleine List, "Dog rescue's drag queen story time leads to death threats, it says. 'Not backing down'", SunHerald, 17 October 2022
  77. ↑ Nader Issa and Tom Schuba, "Francis Parker evacuated due to bomb threat days after right-wing attacks on sex ed program", The Chicago Sun-Times, 12 December 2022
  78. ↑ Greg Owen, "A bomb threat was made at a Chicago school after right-wing media published an edited sex-ed video", LGBTQ Nation, 19 December 2022
  79. ↑ 79.0 79.1 79.2 Canadian Anti-Hate Network, "Trans People Are Being Slanderered As Groomers And Pedophiles By The Far-Right, 7 April 2022
  80. ↑ 80.0 80.1 Patrick Strudwick, "‘Groomer’: How the dangerous new anti-LGBT slur from America is taking hold in Britain", i, 26 April 2022
  81. ↑ 81.0 81.1 81.2 Claire Goforth, "Twitter says it bans using ‘groomer’ as an anti-LGTBQ slur—but its enforcement is lacking (updated)", Daily Dot, 21 June 2022
  82. ↑ 82.0 82.1 82.2 Lily Wakefield, "Twitter says calling trans and non-binary people 'groomer' is hate speech", Pink News, 22 July 2022
  83. ↑ 83.0 83.1 Kyle Dent, "Despite ban on 'grooming' slur, Twitter takes no action on hateful posts", 16 August 2022
  84. ↑ 84.0 84.1 Ari Drennan, "Twitter says slandering LGBTQ people as “groomers” violates its rules. The enforcement has been extremely uneven.", Media Matters, 22 July 2022
  85. ↑ Christopher Wiggins, "Elon Musk's Twitter Is 'Hellscape' for LGBTQ+ People, Critics Say", Advocate, 2 November 2022
  86. ↑ 86.0 86.1 Todd Spangler, "Anti-LGBTQ ‘Groomer’ Slur on Twitter Surges Under Musk’s Ownership, Report Finds", Variety, 13 December 2022
  87. ↑ 87.0 87.1 87.2 Christopher Wiggins, "Twitter Suspends Libs of TikTok While Account Owner Vows Legal Action", Advocate, 30 September 2022
  88. ↑ Rebecca Klar, "Twitter suspends Babylon Bee for misgendering Rachel Levine", The Hill, 21 March 2022
  89. ↑ Patrick McHale, "Elon Musk Opined About Buying Twitter After Babylon Bee Ban", Bloomberg, 5 April 2022
  90. ↑ "Twitter had 'secret blacklists' to limit users, journalist claims", Al Jazeera, 9 December 2022
  91. ↑ Azmi Haroun, "Elon Musk wanted to reinstate a right-wing satire account on day one as Twitter chief", Business Insider, 22 November 2022
  92. ↑ Solcyre Burga, "Twitter Temporarily Bans Washington Post Reporter After Other Journalists Reinstated", Time, 18 December 2022
  93. ↑ Vittoria Elliot and Chris Stokel-Walker, "Twitter’s Moderation System Is in Tatters", Wired, 17 November 2022
  94. ↑ Samantha Riedel, "Elon Musk Might Revisit Twitter’s Anti-Trans Hate Policy", Them, 2 November 2022
  95. ↑ Oliver Dracy, "Hate speech dramatically surges on Twitter following Elon Musk takeover, new research shows", CNN, 2 December 2022
  96. ↑ Chantelle Billson, "Elon Musk spends dying days of Twitter joking with anti-LGBTQ+ account Libs of TikTok", Pink News, 18 November 2022
  97. ↑ Bevan Hurley, "Elon Musk, who has a trans daughter, likes anti-trans tweet from notorious right wing account", The Independent, 27 December 2022
  98. ↑ 98.0 98.1 98.2 98.3 98.4 Kayla Gogarty, "Anti-LGBTQ Twitter account 'Libs of TikTok' seemingly inspired attacks from Florida governor’s press secretary", Media Matters, 14 April 2022
  99. ↑ 99.0 99.1 99.2 99.3 Lily Wakefield, "Libs of TikTok credited with inspiring hateful 'Don’t Say Gay' law and 'grooming' rhetoric", Pink News, 21 April 2022
  100. ↑ 100.0 100.1 Loren Cecil, "Libs of TikTok Creator Chaya Raichik Called Ron DeSantis 'Incredible' For Offering Her Refuge in Florida Governor’s Mansion", BuzzFeed News, 27 December 2022
  101. ↑ 101.0 101.1 Areeba Shah, "Ron DeSantis offered Libs of TikTok creator his home 'to hide' after her identity was revealed", Salon, 28 December 2022
  102. ↑ 102.0 102.1 Summer Concepcion and Marc Caputo, "Trump hosts conservative influencers behind Libs of TikTok and Babylon Bee for dinner", NBC News, 25 January 2023
  103. ↑ 103.0 103.1 Christopher Wiggins, "Libs of TikTok's Chaya Raichik & Trump Met at Mar-a-Lago", The Advocate, 26 January 2023
  104. ↑ 104.0 104.1 104.2 104.3 Christopher Wiggins, "Anti-LGBTQ+ Libs of TikTok Creator Chaya Raichik Does Bizarre CPAC Talk", The Advocate, 2 March 2023
  105. ↑ 105.0 105.1 Amelia Hansford, "Anti-LGBTQ+ Libs of TikTok creator Chaya Raichik just gave a talk to a very empty room", PinkNews, 3 March 2023
  106. ↑ 106.0 106.1 Joseph Tunney, "Shopify won't cut ties with controversial Libs of TikTok", CBC, 25 November 2022
  107. ↑ 107.0 107.1 107.2 Kyle Barr, "Shopify Tells Employees to Ignore Complaints That It's Platforming Anti-LGBT Hate Group", Yahoo News, 6 December 2022