Reporter Taylor Lorenz of the Washington Post has been accused of “doxxing” an anonymous Twitter user who runs the popular “Libs of TikTok” account.
Earlier this month, Lorenz, a former New York Times journalist who recounted online “harassment” that left her in tears, published an article revealing the identity of the social media user who did so.
Posting a person’s personal information online in order to keep them anonymous is known as “doxxing.” Some people thought it was hypocritical of Lorenz to show up at the relatives’ house to ask questions, so they called her a hypocrite.
The “Libs of TikTok” account, which posts TikTok videos from liberals and has more than 662,500 followers, posted an image of Lorenz outside the home of one of her relatives.
Perhaps there’s a small difference between investigating crimes by powerful US officials and doxing anonymous Twitter users.
The failure to recognize this distinction is a key pathology of modern-day journalism: why Assange is in prison and TikTok Taylor is a “star reporter.” https://t.co/246nJXp96C
— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) April 19, 2022
Taylor Lorenz is a terrible journalist and worse human. Targeting a Twitter account that literally just posts Leftists owning themselves because that account damages the Left is pure Lorenz.
— Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) April 19, 2022
Glenn Greenwald, the Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, slammed Lorenz, tweeting: “The same people who – just 2 weeks ago – were insisting that criticizing Taylor Lorenz is wrong because it generates ‘harassment’ toward her are now cheering as she shows up at the homes of the relatives of Twitter users to dox them.”
Ben Shapiro, the conservative commentator, and Daily Wire co-founder tweeted: “Taylor Lorenz is a terrible journalist and worse human.”
Shapiro added: “Targeting a Twitter account that literally just posts Leftists owning themselves because that account damages the Left is pure Lorenz.”
Hi @TaylorLorenz! Which of my relatives did you enjoy harassing the most at their homes yesterday? pic.twitter.com/QehkBSgcmG
— Libs of Tik Tok (@libsoftiktok) April 19, 2022
Lorenz defended her decision to reveal the woman’s identity, tweeting: “Reporters make phone calls, send messages, show up places, and knock on doors when reporting out a story.”
Lorenz added: “I reported this story out extensively, using every tool I had, to ensure I had the correct woman.”
Lorenz tweeted in response to criticism that she had targeted a private individual who had chosen to remain anonymous, “isn’t just some average woman with a social media account” but is instead a “powerful influencer operating a massively impactful right-wing media shaping discourse around LGBTQ+ rights.”
MSNBC‘s Meet the Press Daily aired a segment on April 1 entitled “Severe PTSD” in which Lorenz discussed how online harassment of her and her family caused her to contemplate suicide in the past.
MSNBC’s segment on Fox News host Tucker Carlson’s criticism of Lorenz’s call for an end to online harassment in March 2021 was featured in the segment.
“A smear campaign” had “destroyed her life,” Lorenz, a New York Times reporter at the time, said.
Glenn Greenwald called her a “tattletale” in February 2021 after she incorrectly accused Marc Andreessen of using the “R-word”—meaning “retard”—in a private discussion on the Clubhouse app, a members-only app for tech investors.
New York University researchers found that after Greenwald’s tweet, the number of tweets containing defamatory language about Lorenz increased by 144%.