The internet age has led to some truly spectacular things. Entire libraries of knowledge, ways to connect with people half the world away, and a chance to better understand the world around us. Unfortunately, it has also led to hate, division, social vigilantism, anarchy, and misinformation — sometimes all in one horrific package.
Step forward one particularly sinister account which has set itself up as a sort of callout account, dedicated to vigilante-like “justice” of outing members of progressive, LGBTQ+, and other minority groups at their workplaces and spreading disinformation about those same people. Libs of TikTok launched in April 2021, and has remained a dark, dank place to platform hate against queer people under the guise of social wellness and looking out for children.
What is Libs of TikTok?
Libs of TikTok was founded by former real estate agent Chaya Raichik, and it quickly became a major focal point and bastion of transphobia, homophobia, and outright completely fake news. Raichik had previously used her online presence to spread conspiracy theories around COVID-19, the false claim the 2020 United States election was stolen from Donald Trump, and was also present at the Jan. 6 insurrection, depending on what day you ask her.
Raichik began her anti-queer quest in mid-2021 when she began to describe LGBTQ+ people as child groomers — something which became a staple of her presence online. Chaichik prides herself on getting progressives fired from their jobs, particularly queer teachers in the public system. Her identity was only revealed to the public after The Washington Post published an exposé, which led to the revelation of her career as a realtor.
The account only got further into the mires of far-right conspiracy theories, with Joe Rogan praising it on his own show, further increasing its popularity. Libs of TikTok has frequently reported on drag queen story times at schools, pre-schools, and other places, falsely accusing the drag queens of being child groomers. Similarly, LGBTQ+ resource centers have been targeted by her account. These instances of Chaichik essentially doxxing events and locations has led to the far-right Proud Boys militias parading outside them to intimidate those involved.
Libs of TikTok had arguably its most shameful hours last year. Chaichik made false claims the Boston Children’s Hospital was giving gender-reaffirming hysterectomies to minors, something transphobes consistently stoke the flames of, even though there’s been no such confirmation one has ever happened. The account posted 13 different tweets targeting the hospital, which eventually led to death threats for physicians, staff, and patients at the hospital.
Bomb threats followed death threats. The hospital, as well as several others which offer gender-reaffirming care, all had to increase their security as well as move in-person meetings to online spaces. Commentators have often accused Raichik’s account of provoking lone-wolf terrorism and intentionally sparking the flames of hate, all while cleverly using language to avoid responsibility.
Reports from Vice have alleged the Kremlin has helped to spread and support Raichik’s videos, as part of its ongoing anti-LGBTQ+ smear campaigns which hinge around the West embracing pedophilia.
Raichik is banned from TikTok and was shadowbanned on Twitter until Elon Musk purchased the website and swung open the doors for banned accounts to return — regardless of why they were restricted in the first place. There are frequent calls to ban the account permanently from Twitter, although this is unlikely in a Musk-owned Twitter.
The account arguably one of the most well-known extreme right-wing accounts, taking up a place in the pantheon of far right media which was once synonymous with Alex Jones and InfoWars. With the deplatforming of InfoWars came the opportunity for someone like Raichik to rise, especially as trans rights became the forefront of culture wars discussions, seemingly replacing the old gay marriage debate of the 1990s and 2000s.
Unfortunately, as long as accounts like Libs of TikTok exist, the increased scrutiny and dehumanization of trans and gender diverse people will only persist. Whether culture will shift soon enough for Raichik to be completely deplatformed remains to be seen, but given how single note her bizarre crusade is, eventually people will fall off the bandwagon.