Chaya Raichik, who runs the viral Twitter account Libs of TikTok, said during an exclusive interview with the Daily Caller on Thursday that she never planned to reveal her identity until her doxxing by Taylor Lorenz left her with no other choice.
Washington Post reporter Lorenz wrote an article in April 2022 identifying Raichik, who had remained anonymous, as the woman behind of Libs of TikTok. The Libs of TikTok account mainly posts publicly available videos of suggestive drag performances for kids and teachers discussing how the teach children about gender and sexuality. Lorenz, who said in the article that Raichik was “central to right-wing politics,” allegedly went to the home of some of Raichik’s family members.
If it were not for Lorenz’s article, which opened the door to a torrent of abusive threats, Raichik said she would have happily remained anonymous.
“I never planned for this. I never wanted this. I would definitely be anonymous,” Raichik told the Caller. (RELATED: ‘Secret’ Twitter Committee ‘Acknowledged’ Libs Of TikTok Didn’t Violate ‘Hateful Conduct Policy’ After Multiple Suspensions, Memo Shows)
During an appearance on Tucker Carlson Tonight in December 2022, Raichik revealed herself publicly for the first time and detailed the harassment and death threats she’d received as a result of Lorenz’s reporting.
“It sort of like got to the point where you know — I’ll be very vulnerable for a second — my name was out there,” Raichik told the Caller. “And I was like, you know, what else are they going to do to me? So I was waiting for them to show up at my house again, to stalk me, to follow me.”
Hi @TaylorLorenz! Which of my relatives did you enjoy harassing the most at their homes yesterday? pic.twitter.com/QehkBSgcmG
— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) April 19, 2022
Despite the threats she receives on a daily basis since going public, Raichik says protecting kids from gender ideology makes it worth it.
“I get a lot of death threats and the hate messages. I think it’s always going to be there,” she told the Caller. “I’m just a little bit more wary now and when I go out in public I just sort of keep an eye on my surroundings. I set up a sophisticated alarm system on my home. I’m hopefully going to get a gun. So you know, I have to take the steps, but, I mean, I think what I’m doing is so important. And so at the end of the day, I think it’s worth it.”
Raichik also predicted that the culture war issues she helped popularize will play a key role in the 2024 election.
“I think that it’s clear that that’s going to be a focus of the presidential election, the culture wars and how they respond to that, because I think it’s obvious that that’s what people care about,” Raichik said.
TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew appeared before the House Energy and Commerce Committee hearing on Thrusday as Congress considers banning the popular social media app due to security concerns about the Chinese Communist Party’s access to user data. Some experts also claim that the platform exposes young girls to content that encourages them to become transgender.
During a press conference outside the Capitol on Thursday, Raichik said TikTok “is designed to attract our impressionable youth.”
“Groomers and predators know this and are using it to their advantage,” she added.