Is Taylor Lorenz getting a taste of her own medicine?

Taylor Lorenz, the weepy princess of American corporate media, infamous for ‘doxxing’ the private details of her ideological enemies, has suddenly found herself in hot water over her own private social-media use.

Last Thursday, the New York Post and NPR reported that ‘senior editors at the Washington Post are reviewing’ an Instagram story she posted from a White House event for digital influencers on 14 August. It featured a photo of Joe Biden at the podium, overlaid with the text ‘war criminal’ and a sad-face emoji (presumably due to his support for Israel in its fight against Hamas). The Washington Post is now investigating Lorenz for a possible violation of its strict social-media policies, which ban reporters from advocating for certain causes or policies and from appearing partisan. ‘Our executive editor and senior editors take alleged violations of our standards seriously’, NPR quoted a Post spokesperson as saying.

Lorenz’s story was not shared with all of her nearly 150,000 followers, just those on her ‘close friends’ list – a feature available on Instagram that allows the user to send out content to essentially a private group. As the New York Post wrote, ‘it was viewable only to a select group of friends of her choosing’. Yet despite this attempt to maintain a semblance of privacy, her Instagram story made its way into the hands of Jon Levine of the New York Post, who reposted it on X.

How the worm has turned. Two years ago, Lorenz caused a stir after she revealed the identity of the woman behind the popular Libs of TikTok social-media account, Chaya Raichik. Lorenz went as far as to turn up on the doorstep of one of Raichik’s family members to ask for a comment.

The Libs of TikTok article was filled with the kind of scaremongering tactics that mainstream reporters are known for: it wildly overhyped the account’s influence, accusing it of fomenting hate against LGBT people and shaping not just discourse on right-wing media, but also inspiring anti-LGBT legislation. It name-dropped liberal hate figures like Joe Rogan and Tucker Carlson. It demonised Raichik’s views without ever engaging with them. Worst of all, it failed to explain to readers what Libs of TikTok was best known for at the time – that is, sharing unedited videos liberals and woke types had themselves posted on TikTok, sometimes without commentary, to a conservative / non-woke audience. By showing the world what the ‘progressives’ were up to, Lorenz claimed Raichik was ‘inciting outrage’.

Lorenz’s reporting sparked its own outcry. She was accused of abusing her large platform to ‘dox’ Raichik, exposing her name, her profession and even briefly her work address. In response, Lorenz played the victim. In an interview with NBC News, she cried on camera because people were being mean to her on the internet. Stay out of the kitchen if you can’t take the heat, Taylor.

When Lorenz’s private Instagram story was leaked last week, she initially reacted by implying the text overlay calling Biden a ‘war criminal’ was somehow fake. In a since-deleted tweet, she wrote on X, ‘You people will fall for any dumbass edit someone makes’. However, NPR later confirmed it was indeed posted by Lorenz:

‘NPR has obtained a screen grab of Lorenz’s actual post, which contained [the] caption… Four people with direct knowledge of the private Instagram story confirmed its authenticity to NPR. They spoke to NPR on the condition they not be identified due to the professional sensitivity of the situation for Lorenz.’

In other words, four individuals within Lorenz’s trusted inner circle snitched on her. Perhaps her mean-girl, crybully tactics are coming back to bite her. Or perhaps this is yet another case of woke corporate hacks eating their own.

If Lorenz were to lose her job over this, what would that say about the values and priorities of the Washington Post? That it is acceptable for Lorenz to dox a private citizen behind an X account, but not okay to call the sitting president a ‘war criminal’? While I despise the faux-revolutionary stance that so many American progressives have taken in opposing Israel, Lorenz is surely entitled to express her opinions privately – even if that is a courtesy she would not extend to her enemies.

The overzealous policing of opinions on social-media – whether from hall-monitor journalists like Lorenz or from corporate higher-ups – does none of us any favours.

Jenny Holland is a former newspaper reporter and speechwriter. Visit her Substack here.