Update (10/4/22): Following the publication of this piece, Libs of TikTok business partner Seth Dillon confirmed in a tweet that the account has once again been suspended for violating Twitter’s rules against hateful conduct, just one day after returning from its last seven-day suspension.
After Twitter allowed the viral hate account “Libs of TikTok” back onto its platform following a seven-day suspension, the extreme anti-LGBTQ account immediately returned to targeting teachers and a children’s hospital for supporting trans youth.
Started by Chaya Raichik, Libs of TikTok first gained a following on social media by scandalizing instances when gender identity and sexuality were discussed in schools and targeting teachers for harassment. Raichik has previously amplified content from the organization led by self-described “Christian fascist” Kelly Neidert, alleging that schools are hiding information about students from parents. Raichik has also previously called for all openly LGBTQ teachers to be fired.
Libs of TikTok has been suspended several times on multiple platforms, including Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. Raichik had previously been suspended from Twitter for accusing LGBTQ people of “grooming” children, which Twitter confirmed violates its policies against hateful conduct after facing pressure from Media Matters and others. Her Twitter account was also suspended after she targeted multiple hospitals for providing gender-affirming care, leading to violent threats against patients and providers and forcing at least one hospital to request support from law enforcement. (On September 5, Raichik baselessly claimed that a bomb threat against Boston Children’s Hospital “was probably a left-wing person trying to get me suspended.”)
Notably, Raichik previously pledged to redouble her attacks on hospitals providing trans people with health care after she was suspended from Twitter in August.
On September 28, Raichik took to Substack to announce that Twitter had suspended her account again for violating its hateful conduct policy. Raichik promised to continue her attacks on drag queens and best-practice health care for trans youth, which she called “the insanity of the Left.” Raichik also threatened to sue Twitter if it permanently bans her from the platform, and solicited donations for the “Libs of TikTok Legal Fund.”
Libs of TikTok immediately returned to targeting educators who support LGBTQ youth
After returning to Twitter, Libs of TikTok published a thread targeting the Hilliard City School District in Ohio, where teachers are allowed to wear badges indicating that they are a “safe person” to talk to about LGBTQ issues. Raichik’s thread was posted less than an hour after known anti-LGBTQ propagandist Chris Rufo shared a thread attacking the same school district.
The badges have QR codes on them that link to educational resources intended for teachers and other adults, which Raichik fearmongered “leads to sites containing sexually explicit content.” The local news clip about the story that was previously shared by Libs of TikTok before its most recent suspension even explained this: The superintendent of Hilliard City Schools stated that teachers have been reminded that “the resources linked to the QR code were for adult learning only,” and that their responses to students who ask about the badge “should be age appropriate.”
Libs of TikTok also immediately returned to targeting children’s hospitals after Twitter lifted the account’s suspension
On October 2, Libs of TikTok posted a thread on Twitter targeting Barbara Bush Children’s Hospital in Maine. The account shared a clip from a 2016 report by ABC affiliate WMTW News 8 in Portland, Maine, that featured two parents whose trans child had said she wished she could “die” so “God could bring me back as a girl.” The news report listed the child’s full name, and later in the thread Raichik posted an article listing the name of an endocrinologist who works at the children’s hospital.
On October 3, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Medical Association, and the Children’s Hospital Association sent a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland calling on the Department of Justice to investigate “the increasing threats of violence against physicians, hospitals and families of children for providing and seeking evidence-based gender-affirming care.” They also called on Twitter and other platforms “to do more to prevent coordinated campaigns of disinformation,” “to take bolder action when false information is shared about specific institutions and physicians,” and “to enforce safety and hateful conduct policies to stop the endangerment of patients, families, physicians and health care staff.”
Raichik has shown that unless Twitter answers this call with the “bolder action” it deserves, Libs of TikTok will continue to abuse the platform by spreading dangerous misinformation and targeting trans youth and their families — along with teachers and a growing list of hospitals and health care professionals.
