Washington Post tech reporter Taylor Lornez was among a host of reporters who lamented the Twitter suspensions of eight journalists Thursday night after having cheered on the suspensions of other users.
Journalists joined a Twitter Space after Twitter CEO Elon Musk accused the journalists of “doxxing” his location and publishing “assassination coordinates” for him. Several of the journalists in the Twitter Space who reportedly criticized Musk’s decision to ban their colleagues had previously grieved the firing and resignation of Twitter staffers who suspended several prominent accounts prior to Musk’s takeover.
Lorenz accused unspecified Twitter users of doxxing her family and expressed frustration that the Twitter employee she used to contact to complain about being doxxed no longer worked at the company.
“It’s just so rich to hear him [Musk] complain about doxxing and harassment,” Lorenz said in the Spaces meeting. “I mean, I am doxxed and harassed constantly on this app. That doesn’t mean that everything on this app has to be moderated, but I do think users deserve more control over their own experience.”
“It’s just weird because definitely, in the past few weeks for instance, people tweeting out stuff like information about my family or all this stuff that’s been used to target my family directly in the past. I’ve reported it and the reports go nowhere, the tweets go nowhere,” she continued. “The woman that I used to reach out to when this stuff happened at Twitter has been let go from Twitter, and I just hear this from a lot of people. So I feel like Elon focused on his own experience, but for the rest of us, it’s definitely become less safe.”
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, Lorenz revealed the identity of Chaya Raichik, the woman behind the popular conservative Twitter account, Libs of TikTok. Raichik had requested to remain publicly anonymous to protect against alleged threats. The Post initially published the name and her real estate agent page, which included her full name and address.
The Post columnist doubled down on publishing Raichik’s identity in an April 24 interview with former CNN anchor Brian Stelter. During the interview, Lorenz argued that she did “not reveal” private information about Raichik.
“We absolutely did not reveal any personal information about this woman at all, remotely,” she said. “I know that, sometimes, reporting practices can seem foreign to people that aren’t familiar with journalism, but this was very by the book and very benign. The thing is, the right-wing media will lie, right? They kind of will just spin up these narratives, the goal is to sow doubt and discredit journalism, and that is their agenda.”
The media has been widely critical of Musk for the suspension of the journalists. The New York Times, The Washington Post and CNN — all of which had staffers suspended — all condemned the suspensions in Friday statements. The Washington Post executive editor Sally Buzbee said Musk’s decision “directly undermines” his stated desire to promote free speech on the platform.
“The suspension of [Post reporter] Drew Harwell’s Twitter account directly undermines Elon Musk’s claim that he intends to run Twitter as a platform dedicated to free speech. Harwell was banished from Twitter without warning, process or explanation, following the publication of his accurate reporting about Musk. Our journalist should be reinstated immediately,” she said.
CNN called the decision to suspend journalist Donie O’Sullivan “impulsive and unjustified” in a Friday statement.