Sloppy and slanted though she may be, Washington Post tech journalist Taylor Lorenz is one of the most connected reporters on the Silicon beat. At the new Twitter, however, she finds her complaints falling on deaf ears.
In a Twitter Spaces call that happened after several left-leaning journalists were banned from Twitter for violating rules about revealing individuals’ real-time location, Lorenz complained that she was “doxed and harassed constantly” on Twitter. She said that, since Elon Musk has taken over the company, the doxing has continued, she’s “reported it, and the reports go nowhere.”
Ironically, this is the woman who doxed the owner of the Libs of TikTok account and never had any punishment meted out against her for it. Not only that, but the so-called “Twitter Files” revealed that when the owner of Libs of TikTok reached out to Twitter about the doxing, her reports fell on deaf ears.
It’s almost like Lorenz is complaining about being treated like… everyone else.
So, let’s back up a bit. Earlier this week, after an alleged attack on a car carrying his child, Musk declared new rules against doxing, including using publicly available data regarding private jet movements.
Trending:
First, Twitter banned an account called @ElonJet, which obsessively tracked the flights logged by Musk’s private jet in real time. Then, on Thursday, Twitter banned several journalists and pundits who broke the location-tracking rules, including CNN’s Donie O’Sullivan, The New York Times’ Ryan Mac, The Washington Post’s Drew Harwell, and sports commentator Keith Olbermann.
“Same doxxing rules apply to ‘journalists’ as to everyone else,” Musk tweeted.
“Criticizing me all day long is totally fine, but doxxing my real-time location and endangering my family is not,” he said in a subsequent tweet.
Criticizing me all day long is totally fine, but doxxing my real-time location and endangering my family is not
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 16, 2022
That second tweet — in another twist of irony — was in response to someone sharing a Lorenz post on rival social media service Mastodon in which she reported “my whole timeline is glitched out and people continue to report my tweets so I’m worried I’ll be banned soon too!”
She wasn’t, but she continued to share her concerns during the Twitter Spaces discussion after the journalists were suspended. (Their accounts have since been restored.)
“It’s just so rich to hear [Musk] complain about doxing and harassment,” Lorenz said. “I am doxed and harassed constantly on this app.”
“Definitely in the past few weeks, for instance, people tweeting out stuff like information about my family or all of the stuff that’s been used to target my family directly in the past — like, I’ve reported it, and the reports go nowhere. Like, the tweets go nowhere.”
Lorenz then revealed that her special contact at Twitter to complain to when she experienced “doxing and harassment” — something most users don’t have, obviously — had been let go from the company.
“The woman that I used to reach out to when this stuff happened at Twitter has been let go from Twitter,” she said. “And I just hear this from a lot of people.”
Now, let’s get this straight: Doxing is bad. If Lorenz is being doxed, her doxers should face appropriate punishment. That said, there were few tears to be shed by Libs of TikTok, for obvious reasons:
Taylor Lorenz is complaining on Twitter spaces about being doxxed and harassed. The irony!
Also her contact at Twitter was fired 😂. No more special treatment! pic.twitter.com/pbmj3THv8e
— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) December 16, 2022
In April, in a piece on the account — which aggregates the preposterous excesses of liberals on TikTok, other social media platforms and in real life — Lorenz linked to information that revealed the account owner’s name, Chaya Raichik, along with her address and real estate licensing information.
Thankfully, Raichik seems to have come through it all right, despite the threats against her. However, as revealed in the “Twitter Files,” when she notified Twitter that a photo of her home and her address were posted on the platform, here’s what Twitter support told her: “We reviewed the reported content, and didn’t find it to be in violation of the Twitter rules.”
22. When Raichik told Twitter that her address had been disseminated she says Twitter Support responded with this message: “We reviewed the reported content, and didn’t find it to be in violation of the Twitter rules.” No action was taken. The doxxing tweet is still up. pic.twitter.com/tUeaBP1bS4
— Bari Weiss (@bariweiss) December 9, 2022
Meanwhile, despite Twitter suspending Raichik repeatedly, an internal review found she had “not directly engaged in behavior violative of the Hateful Conduct policy.”
19. But in an internal SIP-PES memo from October 2022, after her seventh suspension, the committee acknowledged that “LTT has not directly engaged in behavior violative of the Hateful Conduct policy.” See here: pic.twitter.com/d9FGhrnQFE
— Bari Weiss (@bariweiss) December 9, 2022
It’s just so rich.
Never forget, too, that shortly before she doxed Raichik, a lachrymose Lorenz appeared on MSNBC sobbing about online harassment against her.
This was Taylor Lorenz a few weeks ago. Never forget pic.twitter.com/jFpusBTmfy
— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) April 19, 2022
She’s fine when she incites harassment against Chaya Raichik, mind you. She’s OK with the mob being sicced on Elon Musk. But don’t touch her or her precious journalistic colleagues. Got it?
Unfortunately for Lorenz, Twitter no longer plays that game. Say what you will about the new policies Musk is implementing, but libs are starting to realize that goose and gander alike will be treated the same now. And they can’t stand it.
