The Philip DeFranco Show - PDS 4.19 The Libs of Tiktok & Taylor Lorenz Scandal Got Nasty Fast...

Episode Date: April 19, 2022

Shoutout to Keeps! Go to https://www.keeps.com/defranco to get 50% off your first order of hair loss treatment. News You Might Have Missed: https://youtu.be/MEg8julNe1w  TEXT ME! [phone] Get More Phil: https://linktr.ee/PhilipDeFranco – 00:00 - Breaking Down the Taylor Lorenz Libs of TikTok Sitaution 11:26 - Sponsor 12:09 - U.S. Will No Longer Enforce Mask Mandate On Airplanes, Trains After Court Ruling 14:36 - Ukraine Updates – ✩ TODAY’S STORIES ✩ Breaking Down the Taylor Lorenz Libs of TikTok Sitaution: https://www.newsweek.com/why-taylor-lorenz-libs-tiktok-expose-has-outraged-conservatives-1698841  https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/04/19/libs-of-tiktok-right-wing-media/  U.S. Will No Longer Enforce Mask Mandate On Airplanes, Trains After Court Ruling: https://www.reuters.com/legal/government/us-judge-rules-mask-mandate-transport-unlawful-overturning-biden-effort-2022-04-18/ Ukraine Updates:  https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/04/19/russia-ukraine-war-news-donbas-live-updates/  ——————————   Executive Producer: Amanda Morones Produced by: Cory Ray  Edited by: James Girardier, Maxwell Enright, Julie Goldberg Art Department: Brian Borst, William Crespo Writing/Research: Philip DeFranco, Brian Espinoza, Maddie Crichton, Lili Stenn, Ben Wheeler, Chris Tolve Production Team: Zack Taylor, Emma Leid ———————————— #DeFranco #JoeRogan #HasanPiker ———————————— Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I don't know if you've seen, but the internet has exploded over the last 24 hours. And in the middle of the blast, you have an account called Libs of TikTok and Washington Post reporter, Taylor Lorenz. So this story is massive, it's messy, it's involved. I'm not gonna be able to touch on every single thing, but we're gonna hit the highlights,

the arguments and the details. So Libs of TikTok is now primarily a conservative Twitter account with around 700,000 followers with them sharing what they refer to as liberal videos from all around the web. And often they target the LGBTQ community. The account specifically taking aim at teachers who it accuses of indoctrinating and grooming children

with LGBTQ plus rights. With this, people on the left have criticized the account, saying it's blatantly homophobic and bigoted, accusing it of cherry picking clips and framing them in ways to boost engagement through rage clicks and promote far right conspiracy theories. But not really debatable is how big of an impact this account has been having.

For since the account first began using the Libs a TikTok handle in April of 2021, this, after having used other screen names since being started in November of 2020, it has steadily gained a ton of traction among conservatives. Especially after Joe Rogan promoted the account on his show just four months after it got started with him mentioning it multiple times on his show

throughout last year and even saying in September, Yes, libs of TikTok on Twitter is one of the greatest accounts of all time. And as the account began to gain more prominence at the end of last year, it became even more incendiary, leaning further into the teachers are groomers narrative, claiming that schools are government run indoctrination camps

for the LGBTQ plus community. Also arguing that educators teaching children about those issues are abusive, that being trans or an ally is a mental illness, and calling any teacher that comes out to their students to be fired on the spot. But the account also generally sharing other content aimed at riling people up,

including just blatant disinformation, like the totally fake story about litter boxes being put in schools that we covered a few weeks back. So with that, Libs and TikTok continue to be promoted more and more of a prominent conservative figure, being retweeted by Meghan McCain, having posts quoted with increasing frequency on Fox News. And as that growth continued,

the person behind the account began doing high profile interviews, largely with conservative media outlets. And although they identified the person as a woman and the sole operator of the account, they allowed her to remain anonymous. But they're telling the New York Post in early February that she quit her non-political job to run the account

and move from New York to California and adding, "'I don't do this for money or fame. "'I'm not some politician or blue check journalist.' "'And people feel like they have someone they can talk to "'when they have no one else to ask to help them spread it.'" But at the same time, you had many on the left arguing that her attempt to stay anonymous was hypocritical because she uses her account to expose others,

and saying that she's openly bragged about this in interviews, and saying to at least one outlet that she had gotten teachers fired or suspended, and saying that successfully's openly bragged about this in interviews saying to at least one outlet that she had gotten teachers fired or Suspended and saying that successfully doing so was a really great feeling so as a result You had people beginning to investigate this woman and her real identity with that bringing us to Friday where you have a software developer by the Name of Travis Brown with him posting to his around 7,000 followers that he found the accounts Twitter history and posted a thread detailing the changes That's made to its handle over time writing pro tip if you want to run a viral moral panic account for the worst people on earth And stay anonymous,

maybe start from scratch instead of doing whatever the fuck this is. With him going on to list several different screen names that the account held before it became libs of TikTok. This including the handle, Haya Raychik. With Brown's tweeting the next day, update, I just found deleted tweets in which libs of TikTok claims to have participated in the January 6th insurrection.

And in addition to sharing screenshots of those tweets, he also noted in a post on his earlier thread that finding these Shia Ray and Haya Raychik identities for libs was not complicated and had been achieved through the shallowest indexing of the internet archives Twitter stream graph. And from there, Brown's reporting began to get picked up by others, including Vice's former editor-in-chief,

Rocco Castoro, who also detailed his own research in a tweet yesterday writing, the blank libs of TikTok.us domain is registered to one Haya Raychik, the same name of the suspected operator of libs of TikTok. And then yesterday, Daily Dot publishes an article confirming Brown's findings regarding the handles and reporting that a reverse search of the phone number

included in the domain registration found by Castoro had turned up a profile for a New York-based realtor of the same name. Though notably here, the outlet did not disclose the person's name, even though it was referenced in posts by those who did. But then things really blow up. With Florida Governor Ron DeSantis'

press secretary, Christina Pasha, sharing a screenshot of an email allegedly sent by Washington Post reporter, Taylor Lorenz, that said she was doing a story exposing the woman behind the libs of TikTok account, with Lorenz reportedly noting that the story mentions Pasha's interactions with the account and praised it and asking if she would like to comment,

to which Pasha responded, "'Here is my comment, clown emoji.'" However, since adding a lot more than just an emoji, repeating a lot of the conservative talking points that the libs of TikTok account is just exposing degenerate progressives, Pasha also retweeting tons of people arguing that Lorenz was set to dox this woman,

including Glenn Greenwald, who also accused Lorenz of showing up at the house of the relatives of the woman behind Libs of TikTok. And that's a claim we've now seen backed up by Libs of TikTok herself. Sharing a picture it appears someone took of Lorenz outside their home. Also a quick note regarding this picture,

I've blurred the background behind Lorenz. I don't know if Rachig didn't realize, or at this point, you know, didn't care, but I mean, there's identifiable information when someone takes a photo outside of their home. But with the photo, Libs of TikTok writing, "'Hi Taylor, which of my relatives did you enjoy "'harassing the most at their homes yesterday?'

And Greenwald asking, "'What's the new journalistic principle being applied? "'Is it now permissible for journalists "'to investigate and expose the real identity "'of any anonymous social media user? "'Or is it just permissible "'if the anonymous social media user "'has a certain kind of politics?'

With Pasha and many others labeling Lorenz a hypocrite because of a recent video when she talks about doxing and online harassment. You feel like any little piece of information that gets out on you will be used by the worst people on the internet to destroy your life. And it's so isolating. And terrifying. It's horrifying. I'm so sorry. It's overwhelming. I'm so sorry. It's overwhelming. It's really hard.

Libs of TikTok also sharing that clip and retweeting lots of other posts supporting her with the account tweeting and retweeting lots of content throughout the day, claiming at one point that Taylor doxed her and her extended family. But despite this backlash, Taylor still published the article this morning

and as expected, she confirmed what Brown and Castoro had found earlier. But the woman who runs Libs of TikTok is Haya Rachin. Also, I quickly want to note, it's unclear exactly how this woman pronounces her name, but because Lorenz reported that she had previously identified as an Orthodox Jew, we're just saying it how it's traditionally pronounced

in Hebrew. But with a story, Lorenz directly noted Brown's reporting and added that when registering the domain liboftiktok.us last October, she used her full name and cell phone number linked to her contact information as a real estate salesperson in Brooklyn. Lorraine's also saying that when a reporter

called the number, the woman who answered hung up after the reporter said she was from the Post. With her adding that a woman at the address listed to Raychick's name in Los Angeles declined to identify herself. And then referenced Greenwald Street from yesterday as confirmation that the house that was visited belonged to Raychick's family.

But in addition to all these details, the majority of Taylor's piece focuses on the reach and influence Libs of TikTok has. And saying that's especially true because of how it's amplified by such prominent right-wing figures writing. "'Libs of TikTok' has become an agenda setter in right-wing online discourse, and the content it surfaces shows a direct correlation

with the recent push in legislation and rhetoric directly targeting the LGBTQ plus community." With her giving an example of Libs of TikTok directly impacting legislation, noting that Bashaw literally credited the account with opening her eyes and informing her views on Florida's highly controversial, don't say gay bill. Lorenz also went on to note the impact of being featured on Libs of TikTok has on people.

Reporting that a former English teacher received harassment and even death threats after the page picked up a video of him telling LGBTQ kids shunned by their parents that he was proud of them and loved them. With Lorenz adding, "'The popularity of Libs of TikTok comes at a time when far-right communities across the internet have begun doxing school officials

and calling for their execution. Parents of LGBTQ plus youth have been driven out of their towns. Local school board members have reported death threats. With Lorenz's article focusing so heavily on harassment and threats Libs of TikTok has brought on people, since the article has gone live, a lot of conservative argumentation is saying

that Lorenz is actually the one engaging in harassment. Claiming that Lorenz doxed Libs of TikTok and did so simply for reposting videos originally shared by unhinged liberals. Essentially arguing this is nothing more than a liberal pwn account. But on the other side of this, we've seen a ton of people saying the conservatives claiming she was doxxed are wrong and being hypocritical. Saying the information quote-unquote exposed was already public information. Noting that in addition to being out there on the internet, she wasn't even the first person to report the name.

Beyond that, she never published a woman's phone number, address, or other information that's usually considered doxxing. And regarding the harassment, saying you're hypocritical because that's what libs of TikTok is doing, using an account to harass people and incite others to go harass and threaten them as well. With many also arguing that no, libs of TikTok should not be given anonymity because she has become so powerful and spread so much hate and misinformation.

And has gotten to such a point, both online and actually doing very, very big public interviews with a real voice, that she's a public figure. With people like Ahsan Piker saying, this woman is quite literally cutting propaganda "'for the Republican Party by blasting random queer teachers "'on the timeline and trying to get them fired. "'Unmasking her is journalism.

"'Making it seem like this is just "'some random Twitter account is odd.'" Lorenz herself has also defended her reporting, largely focusing on the reach and scope that Raychik has, and adding, "'Rather than debate doxing, "'I hope people can read this story "'and see the striking escalation of attacks

"'against gay and trans people and the crucial role "'this account has played in the right-wing media ecosystem. And throughout the day, Lorenz has continued to post and retweet about this. So rather than just try to keep up with this until the moment I post, I reached out and said, "'Hey, is there anything you wanna add "'to what you've said publicly?

"'Anything you wanna really make clear?' "'And here's some of what she had to say.'" I have been doxxed pretty viciously multiple times. So I'm very familiar with doxxing. I speak a lot about online harassment, online safety. I'm very against, you know, Twitter pylons and bad faith attacks and things like that. on social media. The engagement on her account is off the charts. She's regularly shared by super high profile people. And she's really shaping the discourse around these anti-gay legislation. She's also regularly destroying the lives of trans and gay people featured on the account. I spoke to several people that had received just sort of horrible attacks and had

their lives turned upside down after being featured on this account as just totally private citizens. I spoke to people who had been fired as a result of her tweeting about them. So I think her account is having pretty wide and far reaching impact, but also sort of directly affecting gay and trans people's ability to work in schools. I just feel like she can't really have it both ways. Like if you're going to make yourself a massive right-wing influencer, monetize, take tons of funding, build this email list, you know, shape public policy, and then go on a right-wing media tour, you, you know, people deserve to know kind of like who you are and what you're about. And I also thought that the fact that she was there during the Capitol, live tweeted it, now sort of shaping this new groomer discourse. Again, I just thought

that it met the bar for newsworthy. Lorenz also defending the fact that she went to Raichick's house saying that door knocking is pretty common among journalists and that another woman with the same name was beginning to get attacked. She was getting tons of harassment to the point that she had to put her account on private. The whole thing was spiraling out of control. And I was like, all right, look, I'm going to identify the real one. You have to confirm. I had called the phone numbers associated with her account. I had called people associated with her, but I wasn't sure. And her address was listed as LA. She had talked publicly in multiple interviews about moving to California.

And so I was like, you know what, I'm going to go bike over there and see if she'll talk or just at least knock on the door and say like, hey, I'm doing this story. Do you want to say something? Or, you know, is this actually her house? Also on the note of posting identifiable information on the internet, she said. Also, she tweeted a picture of me today at her house, showing her street, which is highly identifying and kind of insane if you're scared about getting doxxed. Definitely do not post pictures

of anyone outside your house. But ultimately, that is where we are with this story. It's another day, another culture war. Existing is exhausting. But with that, I wanna pass the question off to you. What are your thoughts with this story? I'd love your opinions on any and all aspects of this story, but I guess at the center of it, the thing that people

are fighting over the most right now, and I'm not saying it's equal amounts, but it's what people are being most vocal about. When you personally see this story, do you see that as Taylor Lorenz harassing and doxing Raychick, or do you see this as Taylor Lorenz doing journalism on a high profile figure with a massive audience that seemingly is having an impact

on the culture and politics. I'd love to hear the class's thoughts. And then, did you know that two out of three guys will experience some form of male pattern baldness by the time that they're 35? Well, that is why I wanna take a second to thank the fantastic sponsor of today's show, Keeps. Because when it comes to hair loss,

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for your prescriptions, taking you both valuable time and money. So if you're ready to take action and prevent hair loss, go to keeps.com slash DeFranco, or just click that link in the description down below to receive 50% off your first order. And then let's talk about big COVID and mask news. Right, last week, you had the CDC extending a mask mandate

for federal transportation for two more weeks. But then yesterday, a federal judge in Florida struck down the federal mandate for planes, trains, buses, and other forms of public transportation, leading to this moment. You can't roll with your hands. Woo!

You heard him say it, okay. You heard him. You don't have to wear the plane. You don't have to wear the mask on the plane. Because just hours after the judge made his decision, the TSA announced that they were gonna stop enforcing mandates. However, I do wanna note that this does not mean

there will be absolutely zero mask mandates on all public transit. And that, in part because local transit agencies, airports, and individual airlines, among others, can still mandate masks if they want to, with this ruling just saying, hey, if you don't want to, you don't have to. So we have all the major airlines dropping their mask mandates on flights and airports within the United States. Several of them are still requiring masks for flights to cities and countries with mask mandates. Plus, some airports still might say, hey, you still need to wear one. But this is bigger than planes, right?

Both Uber and Lyft have stopped requiring masks for rides and drivers with Uber now allowing people to sit in the front seat again. Which at last part, especially massive news for that one friend we have that loves to sit in the front and ask dumb questions like how long you been doing Uber? Also, if you live in the tri-state area, you don't have to wear masks on Amtrak

or New Jersey Transit anymore. However, the MTA, which operates New York City buses and subways is still keeping its mandates, as well as in Philadelphia, which coincidentally announced last week that masks would be required in public places unless they check vaccinations starting Monday. Which I mean, Philadelphia, just that alone is a big story

because they're the first major city to do so. Or because a lot of cities, including Philadelphia, lifted their mask mandates over the past month and a half, and then boom, they brought it back. Which is why some people are expecting a resurgence of state and local rules, with other cities potentially following Philly's cue. Or because COVID cases are actually surging right now now with 69,000 infections being reported on Monday as well as just over 300 deaths.

Many also think that those case numbers are a dramatic undercount. With experts noting that dozens of states have scaled down their reporting, fewer people are getting tested, and those who do are more likely to use at-home tests. With former FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb telling CBS last week, We're probably only picking up one in seven or one in eight infections. So when we say there's 30,000 infections a day, it's probably closer to a quarter of a million infections a day. But there does appear to be a silver lining

or at least a bright side to the public numbers as well as what the real numbers may be. And that is that hospitalizations are not keeping up with cases, right? It's not the expected rate. Plus since the Delta variant, we've found more antiviral medications and reached a full vaccination rate of 70%

for Americans aged five and up. Yeah, ultimately that's where we are with this Of course, you have a lot of people very relieved to rip the masks off though You still do have individuals with compromised immune systems or other conditions that make them especially vulnerable just kind of terrified Which is why I want to pass the question off to you. How are you feeling about this rule? And then finally today, let's talk about updates on Russia's continued and senseless war in Ukraine Where over the weekend we saw the head of the Russian Black Sea Fleet, the cruiser Moskva, taking missile hits from Ukraine and eventually sink, marking an especially disastrous and embarrassing moment

in the war for the Russian military. Though Russia denies that the ship was ever hit by missiles, instead just claims that its ammunition started going off during a fire on the ship. Though seemingly in response to Moskva's sinking, Russia launched hundreds of missile strikes across Ukraine, including as far west as the relatively peaceful city of Lviv, which on the note of location right there,

the further east in Ukraine you go, the more dangerous things get. But the most dangerous rightviv, which on the note of location right there, the further east in Ukraine you go, the more dangerous things get. But the most dangerous right now, arguably being the city of Mariupol, which still has Ukrainian forces fighting the Russians, despite being pushed down to a pocket largely centered around a steel factory. And their situation continues to be dire,

with Russians claiming Ukrainian forces refused to surrender or die ultimatum. However, it's not just Ukrainian forces trapped in the area. There are still hundreds, if not thousands of civilians hiding from Russian forces and attacks. With the leader of Ukrainian forces in the region claiming that many have come to the Azovstal Steel Factory to hide in the basement.

So with the Russian attacks and bombings on the factory and surrounding area, there are real worries that many more civilians are going to end up dead. And if Ukrainian officials can be believed, those deaths may end up just being a drop in the bucket compared to the amount of killing Russia has already done to the city. With some describing Mariupol

as essentially no longer existing. On top of that, today today President Zelensky announced, we can now say that Russian forces have started the Battle of the Donbass, for which they have long prepared. A very large part of the entire Russian army is now focused on this offensive. And adding, we, the world, and history

will take away much more from Russia than Russian missiles can take from Ukraine. Every life lost is an argument for Ukrainians and other free peoples generation after generation to perceive Russia exclusively as a threat. If you've been keeping up with this war through the show, you know the Battle of the Donbass is not a surprise. It's been known for a while that Russia was diverting

its efforts in Northern Ukraine to make better progress in the East. And that lines up with Russia's shifting war aims. They went from overthrow Kyiv and install a new government to a more localized secure the Donbass for the breakaway Luhansk and Donetsk peoples republics. It's also not a surprise that Ukrainians continue to ask for heavy weapons from the world pointing out

that the coming battles will revolve around tanks and artillery in the wide open plains of eastern Ukraine. However, Zelensky added another facet to its long-term strategic goals, EU membership. For a while they've been angling to get into the EU, but the war has propelled its prospects. And Zelensky now thinks that Ukraine could become an EU candidate within weeks, which sounds like progress when your country is being invaded. This process normally takes years, so comparatively speaking Ukraine appears to be going at the speed of light. Also, speaking of strategic goals, Putin has claimed that one of the biggest efforts

by the international community, sanctions, has failed, with the leading evidence there being the price of the ruble, which has managed to stabilize despite sanctions. However, that only appears to be part of the story, or because Russia has made Herculean efforts to prop up the ruble, and a lot of these efforts have centered around Europe's need for Russia's natural gas, Russia also using its large reserves

to help prop up its economy, but in a warning that appears to somewhat undermine Putin's confidence, with Russia's natural gas, Russia also using its large reserves to help prop up its economy, but in a warning that appears to somewhat undermine Putin's confidence, with Russia's central bank governor saying that the period when the economy can live on reserves is finite. But ultimately, that is where that story and today's show ends.

My name is Philip DeFranco. You've just been filled in. I love yo faces, and I'll see you tomorrow.