Libs of TikTok


Libs of TikTok is the username of various American anti-LGBTQ and far-right social-media accounts operated by Chaya Raichik, a former real estate agent. Raichik uses the accounts to repost content from left-wing and LGBTQ people on TikTok or other social-media platforms, often with mocking or derogatory commentary. With millions of followers on Twitter, Raichik is influential among American conservatives and the political right.
The accounts promote transphobia and other anti-LGBTQ rhetoric, like saying that trans people are mentally ill and pretend to be of the gender they identity themselves as, and spread false claims, especially relating to medical care of transgender children. Raichik's posts regularly label LGBTQ people and mental-health providers "groomers". Her accounts have received several temporary suspensions and a permanent suspension from TikTok.
Raichik's posts have resulted in threats, harassment, and doxing perpetuated by her followers against teachers, medical providers, children's hospitals, libraries, LGBTQ venues, and educational facilities. At least 60 bomb threats have been linked to Libs of TikTok posts.

History

Inception and original content (November 2020 – June 2021)

In November 2020, Raichik created a Twitter account with the handle @shaya69830552, later changed to @shaya_ray. According to The Daily Dot, the account began as "reply account that routinely showed up in the comments of prominent conservatives on Twitter." Under these handles, Raichik downplayed the severity of COVID-19, promoted the disproven conspiracy theory that the 2020 United States presidential election was stolen from Donald Trump through election fraud, and made posts showing that she was present at the January 6 Capitol attack. Raichik criticized Capitol Police. She tweeted that she did not enter the Capitol building like "a few crazy people" had, and called the breach "mostly peaceful", and she later favorably compared the attack to a Black Lives Matter protest. In early 2021, the account had less than 1,000 followers.
She later changed the handle to @cuomomustgo, focusing on demanding the resignation of then-governor of New York Andrew Cuomo following the sexual harassment allegations levied against him. Raichik also used the account to advocate for the recall of California governor Gavin Newsom. By March 2021, the handle had changed to @houseplantpotus, a parody account tweeting as a houseplant in the White House during the presidency of Joe Biden. On April 19, 2021, Raichik adopted the moniker @libsoftiktok, promising to "help you find your daily dose of cringe". In May and June 2021, before and during Pride Month, Libs of TikTok started posting anti-LGBTQ commentary, including her first tweet promoting the LGBTQ grooming conspiracy theory. The account's early reposts also included reposts of videos by progressives about Anthony Fauci and vaccinations that it deemed cringeworthy. Slate linked Libs of TikTok's early success to "shamelessly tagging alt-right and far-right heavy hitters on Twitter, a strategy she continues to use to this day".

Media attention (August 2021 – April 2022)

By August 2021, Libs of TikTok had amassed around 65,000 followers. In August 2021, podcaster Joe Rogan began promoting @LibsofTikTok on The Joe Rogan Experience, leading to a large increase in followers. That same month, lawyer and Republican Party operative Grant Lally filed a trademark for Libs of TikTok as a "news reporter service". The account has been promoted by Donald Trump Jr., journalist Glenn Greenwald and political commentators Tucker Carlson, Jesse Watters and Laura Ingraham; has been featured in the New York Post, The Federalist, The Post Millennial, Fox News and in other right-wing news outlets; and its posts have been retweeted by Meghan McCain.
Prior to being revealed as the account creator, Raichik was interviewed anonymously on several occasions, during which she boasted that posts from the account led to the firings of several teachers. Raichik encouraged followers to join local school boards in order to remove teachers who teach about gender and sexuality. Raichik told the New York Post that "I don't do this for money or fame" and "I'm not some politician or blue-check journalist."

Identity revelation (April 2022)

In April 2022, details surfaced regarding the account's operator. Raichik registered the domain libsoftiktok.us in October 2021. The.us top-level domain does not allow anonymous registration, so her full name and other information was listed publicly on the WHOIS record for the domain. A software developer recognized this and named Raichik as the account's creator in early April 2022.
On April 19, 2022, The Washington Post published an article by journalist Taylor Lorenz which further reported on Raichik's identity, noting that she worked in real estate in Brooklyn and that she was "proudly" Orthodox Jewish, details were scraped from early iterations of the Libs of TikTok Twitter account. The web version of the article initially linked to Raichik's real estate license, though it was later removed.
Conservatives criticized Lorenz for her methods in reporting, for revealing Raichik's identity at all, for claims of antisemitism, and for hypocrisy. Some accused her of doxxing Raichik, though Lorenz countered that the information was already publicly available. The Washington Post stood by the reporting. Senior managing editor Cameron Barr stated that the Post "did not publish or link to any details about personal life", though Raichik noted that a home address was listed on the real-estate license the article originally linked to. Lorenz said critics were trying to "sow doubt and discredit journalism".
Raichik personally accused Lorenz of doxxing and of violating her right to free speech, though she vowed to "never be silenced". The next month, she tweeted that she had "received about a dozen death threats", including threats to throw a pipe bomb into her house. Lorenz also reported that she faced personal backlash, noting that, in response to the article, her "whole family" had been doxxed, and that "trolls moved on to doxxing and stalking any random friends I've tagged on Instagram".
The Libs of TikTok account gained 200,000 followers the day after The Washington Post's story was published.
Lorenz arranged an interview two years after The Washington Post article, during which Raichik argued against gender-affirming care and discussed whether Raichik considered herself a public figure after being outed.

Content

Libs of TikTok has been described as right-wing, conservative, far-right, extreme right-wing, and extremist. The Times of London described the account as a "Twitter provocateur". The account is generally devoted to reposting content from left-leaning social-media accounts that sparks outrage among its right-wing followers. The reposted videos are most often LGBTQ-related.

Drag-show-related content

Raichik contends that adults teaching children about LGBTQ identities is abusive and constitutes child grooming. She often uses Libs of TikTok to publicize LGBTQ events either involving or aimed at youth, and, on more than one occasion, some of these events have been targeted by right-wing extremists. Raichik has claimed that being gender non-conforming or being an ally of the LGBTQ community is a "mental illness", and deliberately misgendered transgender people.
In June 2022, Libs of TikTok had some of their tweets removed after they posted the locations of drag-focused events in the United States, including at least one Drag Queen Story Hour that was geared toward preschool-aged children. That location, in San Lorenzo, California, was stormed by the Proud Boys, a far-right extremist group. Pride events in Dallas and Coeur d'Alene were also targeted by right-wing extremists after Libs of TikTok posted about them; at the Coeur d'Alene event, 31 Patriot Front members were arrested before getting to their destination. In June, a spokesperson for the Alameda County Sheriff's Office said investigators believe that the Proud Boys confrontation was caused by Libs of TikTok. In August, NPR reported that "no conclusive link between the posts and the extremist groups' activities" had been established.
The Proud Boys have also targeted or threatened to target other events Libs of TikTok has publicized, including a Woodland, California, bar's drag happy hour, a drag brunch planned to benefit a local LGBTQ resource center in Sanford, North Carolina, and a drag-queen story hour that was planned by a K-5 school in Columbus, Ohio.
In November, a South Dakota State University LGBTQ student group was the target of a bomb threat being investigated by the University Police Department, after Libs of TikTok posted alleged footage of that year's annual drag event, which was advertised as all-ages. The student group and the performer at the center of the event said Libs of TikTok's video spliced together scenes of that year's event with the previous year's event, which had been age-restricted.
In May 2023, it was reported that the shooter responsible for the Allen, Texas shooting had dedicated to Libs of TikTok a long screed he posted to social media denouncing Drag Queen Story Hour.

Gender-affirming-care-related content

Raichik opposes gender-affirming surgery on children, arguing that it is mass scale child abuse and that "ny doctor performing these surgeries should have their license revoked. They belong in prison".
In August 2022, on Libs of TikTok social-media accounts, Raichik claimed that Boston Children's Hospital and Children's National Hospital were providing gender-affirming bottom surgeries to minors. With the BCH-related content, Raichik included a BCH video that featured one of the hospital's gynecologists explaining the procedure. USA Today, NPR, and PolitiFact concluded that BCH claim was false. The CNH content was an audio recording with two operators who stated that 16-year-old trans boys would be eligible for hysterectomies at the hospital. CNH denied the operators' statements and noted that "one of the people who were secretly recorded by this activist group deliver care to our patients". Several conservative outlets—including The Daily Caller and The Post Millennial—republished one or both stories.
Both hospitals' websites featured mistaken information as to the eligibility for gender-affirming bottom surgeries: A public-facing file on BCH's website said that vaginoplasty patients must be "between 17 and 35 years of age at the time of surgery"; when asked about this document, the hospital explained that it had since been updated to reflect the protocol it said it had "always adhered to"—that, while consultations were available to 17 year olds, only those over 18 were eligible for the surgery. CNH's website had stated that hysterectomies were provided to patients "between the ages of 0–21". But a spokeswoman for the hospital stated: "We do not and have never performed gender-affirming hysterectomies for anyone under the age of 18."
After the Libs of TikTok posts, each hospital's employees were subject to harassment, and both BCH and CNH were subject to bomb threats, though it was unclear whether the BCH threat was related to the harassment. NBC News described Libs of TikTok as "one of the primary drivers of the harassment campaign" against BCH. The threats of violence were widely denounced, and both state and federal authorities launched investigations into the threats. When contacted by The Washington Post, Raichik did not answer a question about whether she felt responsible for the threats against the hospitals, but said that "we 100% condemn any acts/threats of violence". In a later tweet, Raichik said that she would continue to call out hospitals, and, in the aftermath of the CNH tweets, after which Twitter temporarily suspended the Libs of TikTok account, Raichik said, "Getting suspended by Twitter has only made me realize my biggest mistake. I only called one hospital I should have called dozens because I promise you Children's National is not the only one. I promise to learn from my mistake and uncover more of what our Big Tech overlords don't want us to know. I will do better in the future."
Raichik subsequently posted stories about Akron Children's Hospital and Barbara Bush Children's Hospital providing non-surgical gender-affirming care, including puberty blockers, to minors. Raichik also posted about an adolescent clinic at Johns Hopkins All Children's Hospital, highlighting its practice of asking parents to step out of the room for a few minutes to give young patients a "safe space". In response to the social-media attention, which included threats, Akron Children's Hospital temporarily took down the gender-affirming care section of their website and information about its employees and the care they provide.
The account has targeted other hospitals that provide gender-affirming care, in some cases with false claims, including a children's hospital in Omaha, Nebraska, UPMC Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh, and Phoenix Children's Hospital, leading to phoned-in threats and harassment. After Libs of TikTok's targeting of specific hospitals, other pediatric facilities including Chicago's Lurie Children's Hospital have faced harassment and false claims about care they provide. In September 2022, in response to Libs of TikTok's posts, Lurie Children's Hospital increased its security and moved a transgender youth support group from in-person meetings to online meetings.