Taylor Lorenz

Taylor Lorenz (born October 21, c. 1984–1987) is an American journalist. She is a columnist for The Washington Post and a podcaster for Vox Media, hosting a show called Power User. She was previously a technology reporter for The New York Times, The Daily Beast, and Business Insider, and social media editor for the Daily Mail. She is particularly known for covering Internet culture. In 2023, she published a book called Extremely Online: The Untold Story of Fame, Influence, and Power on the Internet.

Early life and education

Lorenz was born in New York City and grew up in Old Greenwich, Connecticut, attending nearby Greenwich High School. She attended college at the University of Colorado Boulder and later transferred to Hobart and William Smith College, where she graduated with a degree in political science. Lorenz has said that the social media site Tumblr caused her to become interested in Internet culture.

Career

According to The Caret, Lorenz's reporting frequently concerns "Silicon Valley venture capitalists, marketers and ... anyone curious about how the internet is shaping the ways in which humans express themselves and communicate". Fortune named her to its "40 Under 40" list in 2020, saying that she has "cemented herself as a peerless authority" whose name became "synonymous with youth culture online" during her time at The Daily Beast and The Atlantic. The same year, Adweek included her on its list of "Young Influentials Who Are Shaping Media, Marketing and Tech", saying that she "contextualizes the internet as we live it". Reason magazine credited her with popularizing the term "OK boomer" in a story declaring "the end of friendly generational relations". According to TheWrap, "since her time at the Times, she's attracted an inordinate amount of online criticism, particularly from those in the right-wing media".

Lorenz worked as a social media editor for the Daily Mail from 2011 to 2014, becoming its head of social media. After a short stint writing for The Daily Dot in 2014, she was a technology reporter for Business Insider from 2014 to 2017. In 2017, she wrote briefly for The Hill's blog section, and was assaulted by a counter-protester while covering the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia. From 2017 to 2018, she worked as a technology reporter for The Daily Beast. In 2019, she was a visiting fellow at Harvard University's Nieman Foundation for Journalism. From 2019 to 2022, she was a technology reporter for The New York Times.

In March 2022, Lorenz left the Times and joined The Washington Post as a columnist. Her book Extremely Online: The Untold Story of Fame, Influence, and Power on the Internet was published by Simon & Schuster in October 2023.

In April 2022, Lorenz wrote an article for the Post that publicized the identity of Chaya Raichik as the owner of the far-right Twitter account Libs of TikTok. The details were retrieved from early iterations of the account as well as previous reporting. In attempt to discredit the article and Lorenz herself, Raichik attacked Lorenz, claiming that Lorenz doxxed her. Journalists pointed out that the allegations against Lorenz misconstured doxxing with a "standard part of the reporting process", and that previous reporting from multiple sources had identified Raichik as the account owner. According to The Times of London, "supporters of Lorenz meanwhile pointed out that Raichik's followers were only too enthusiastic about doxing when it came to teachers being smeared as paedophiles". In a tweet, Lorenz said that her "whole family was doxed again this morning ... trolls have now moved on to doxing and stalking any random friends I've tagged on Instagram". Lorenz later interviewed Raichik for an article about Libs of TikTok in February 2024.

In June 2022, the Post published an article by Lorenz about the eco-system of online content creators and influencers covering the Depp v. Heard trial. The article incorrectly said that two YouTubers mentioned in passing in the article had been contacted for comment, when the Post later reported that only one had been before publication, though this is disputed by both youtubers. Ultimately, after editorial corrections were made, the Editor's Note on the article acknowledged that only one of the creators had been contacted before publication, and that stealth editing had occurred against the paper's policy, however Lorenz did not make the stealth edit. In a tweet thread agreed upon by Lorenz, her editors, and Post management, Lorenz stated that the errors were due to a miscommunication with her editor, and that news coverage of the errors was in "bad faith", "irresponsible and dangerous", and designed to "amplify a manufactured outrage campaign by right wing media & radicalized influencers, which is driving a vicious harassment/smear campaign against me".

In February 2024, it was announced that Lorenz would be launching a podcast with Vox Media called Power User. It is distributed both in audio format via podcast platforms, and in video format on YouTube. The show features discussion of internet culture, social media influencers, the history of various memes, and news about internet and technology companies.

In August 2024, The Washington Post began an investigation as to whether Lorenz violated the paper's standards, for sharing an image to a private Instagram chat depicting President Joe Biden with the caption "war criminal :(", referencing a meme. Lorenz initially denied making the post, and later said that a friend created the captioned picture, which Lorenz shared.

Harassment and coordinated attacks

Lorenz has been the subject of online harassment, often used as a tactic to attempt to discredit her reporting and skills as a journalist. The harassment has included graphic rape threats, death threats, and even threats against her parents and other family members, some of them children. Some of the harassment that has targeted Lorenz has been coordinated, often boosted by right wing media personalities, such as Tucker Carlson.

The online harassment has spilled over into the physical world as well. Lorenz has been assaulted, stalked, and in 2022 "a man who had been live-streaming violent threats about her turned up," at a conference she was speaking at, necessitating her to "be escorted to safety". Furthermore, both she and her parents have been the victims of swatting.

Lorenz has stated that the harassment has led to severe post-traumatic stress disorder, led to her contemplating suicide, and has caused her to be cautious about what information about herself she reveals online. This disclosure led to further harassment.

In December 2022, Twitter owner Elon Musk temporarily suspended Lorenz's Twitter account. The suspension followed a series of suspensions of journalists under Musk's new ownership of Twitter. Lorenz said she was suspended after asking Musk for comment on a story. Musk tweeted that the suspension was for "prior doxxing action".

Personal life

Lorenz announced her engagement to Christopher Mims, a technology columnist at The Wall Street Journal, in January 2015. She identified herself as a vegan in 2022.

She said in interviews that she has severe PTSD from experiencing online harassment and that she is immunocompromised.

Selected publications

• Lorenz, Taylor (October 3, 2023), Extremely Online: The Untold Story of Fame, Influence, and Power on the Internet, Simon & Schuster, ISBN 9780753560792