“I think gender ideology, in general, is very narcissistic … It’s like, ‘These are my pronouns. This is my gender. Let me talk to you about how I want to be referred to and how you should refer to me,’ says Chaya Raichik, creator of the viral Twitter account “Libs of TikTok.”
“And the whole idea of an app, where you go online and you just film yourself talking … I think that it’s a really good match—those activists and TikTok—because TikTok is really a platform for narcissists.”
Raichik was doxxed in a controversial Washington Post article last year, and since then, she has embraced her public persona.
“I’m a Hasidic Jew. There’s a concept in Judaism that every single person is in this world for a reason. Every person has a purpose … Through running Libs of TikTok, I feel like this is my mission now. And I’m very empowered to continue doing it,” says Raichik.
Raichik and I discuss wokeness and indoctrination in the American education system, and dive into why Libs of TikTok has been so effective, having resulted in new legislation and even in the termination of school officials who promoted gender ideology or grooming in their classrooms.
“They create this content, and then I put it out there in their own words. And they don’t really want us to see it. They want to just live in their bubble, where everybody agrees with them. So, I’m posting this content and they just can’t handle it,” says Raichik. “My account really is just centered on protecting the innocence of children. That’s the main focus.”
Interview trailer:
Watch the full interview: https://www.theepochtimes.com/chaya-raichik-libs-of-tiktok-creator-on-classroom-indoctrination-and-tiktok-narcissists_5021412.html
FULL TRANSCRIPT
Jan Jekielek:
Chaya Raichik, such a pleasure to have you on “American Thought Leaders”.
Chaya Raichik:
It’s so great to be here. Thank you for having me.
Mr. Jekielek:
As many of us have, I’ve been following your account, LibsofTikTok, for quite some time. There were many times when it was actually unavailable for a whole suite of reasons. The first thing I want to ask you is, when these Twitter files came out, and when Elon Musk took over Twitter and these Twitter files came out, what was your reaction to what you were seeing?
Ms. Raichik:
It was a very emotional night when I saw the Twitter files, but my first reaction was I just felt entirely vindicated. Because for months I had been growing my LibsofTikTok Twitter account, and I knew I wasn’t violating the rules. I was very careful to follow their guidelines, and I kept getting suspended. It was so frustrating. It seemed like every other week I was getting another suspension. And then, the Twitter files came out, and the Twitter employees were saying that I never violated the rules and they were just looking for any excuse to silence me. So, I felt vindicated. It was a great feeling. I know that a lot of other people also were mentioned in the Twitter files, and I’m really happy for them, because it really meant a lot.
Mr. Jekielek:
Why do you think your account was getting so much attention?
Ms. Raichik:
I think LibsofTikTok is really effective. We just showcase what the Left themselves are saying, and their views don’t hold up to scrutiny. They create this content and then I put it out there in their own words and they don’t really want us to see it. They want to just live in their bubble where everybody agrees with them. So, I’m posting this content and they just can’t handle it.
Mr. Jekielek:
But you do provide commentary on some of these, and some of it’s pretty pointed. I’ve been scrolling your feed recently.
Ms. Raichik:
As far as the actual videos, there’s no editing. As far as the commentary, it is very, very minimal commentary. It is probably the least commentary you’ll see from any account my size.
Mr. Jekielek:
How often do you get people sending you content?
Ms. Raichik:
My content now is sort of half and half. Half is what I find, and half is what people send to me. I get a lot of messages. I get hundreds a day. I have desperate parents who want me to help them expose the wokeness in their schools. I have people sending me TikToks sometimes. My platform really is about giving a voice to people who don’t have a platform. I’m able to share the stories of a lot of really concerned citizens.
Mr. Jekielek:
That’s amazing. Do you do this all alone? Do you have a team now or how does this work?
Ms. Raichik:
Pretty much just me. I basically spend all day, every day, going through all of my messages, and going through TikTok, and choosing what to post and how. A lot of the stories require research. I do have someone helping me a little bit part-time. But hopefully, we will expand.
Mr. Jekielek:
You did different things with your Twitter account before you seemed to settle on LibsofTikTok. I want to talk about the evolution of that. What was your thinking?
Ms. Raichik:
I joined Twitter, honestly, just for Trump, because his tweets were really funny. We all missed the mean tweets. I joined Twitter for that, and I was just starting to get into politics. It was during COVID, and then I stumbled across TikTok. I saw all of this really bizarre content, and I was like, “I need to show this to people, people need to see this, people need to see what’s going on.” So, I started posting the videos to Twitter. That’s really how LibsofTikTok started. And then, I changed the name to LibsofTikTok. It just came to me one day. I didn’t think about it too much, and the rest is history.
Mr. Jekielek:
When you started, you just wanted to consume content, and then you started experimenting with different things. I saw you had some health freedom-related things early on as well.
Ms. Raichik:
Yes. I wasn’t looking to go viral or to be famous. It was more just having fun. I had met some people through Twitter. We kind of would just change our usernames, and just have fun with some of the ideas that were floating during that time. I changed my username quite a few times before changing it to LibsofTikTok.
Mr. Jekielek:
As we go through this, I want to pull up a few posts that you made and get you to comment on them. Here’s one actually recently, January 16th, a teacher laughs about bringing political unrest in her school by pushing pronouns, showing up with purple hair, and mocking the Bible.
Video:
I have my first day as a sub today, and there are many things I would like to talk about, but today I would like to talk about how I am the political unrest that Cedar City needs. And I just realized that my hydroflask is in this video and that’s my “I Don’t Care What the Bible Says” sticker, which I forgot I left up at the front of the classroom when I was in the back office.
Mr. Jekielek:
How is it that you go about choosing these things?
Ms. Raichik:
I go to TikTok and I spend about 15 to 20 hours a week on TikTok. I have very high standards of quality for my content. In most of my content, I want to have a message. I’m not just laughing at people. All the videos have an underlying message. For this specific one and most of the ones that feature teachers, it’s really important to show what is going on in classrooms across America.
Mr. Jekielek:
What is it that you see on TikTok from these classrooms?
Ms. Raichik:
There is a lot of indoctrination and grooming going on in classrooms. TikTok, in general, is a cesspool for activists to target children. I think TikTok was designed to attract youth, and their algorithms are very sophisticated. It’s been discussed that it’s also sort of a weapon. TikTok is owned by China. It’s sort of a weapon to destroy us from within. So, TikTok is really the center for targeting kids with radical gender ideology.
Mr. Jekielek:
Explain to me what you mean by grooming, because this has become a controversial word.
Ms. Raichik:
Up until recently, if you wrote it on Twitter, then you were banned. Grooming is tearing down childhood innocence by confusing children with gender ideology, and about their identity. We’re seeing a lot of that in schools and in other institutions.
Mr. Jekielek:
Let’s talk about TikTok. On this show, we’ve extensively covered how TikTok does actually function as a weapon for the Chinese Communist Party, and may well be amplifying the types of things which foment social chaos for the benefit of the Chinese regime. For starters, you see a lot of what you describe as toxic content for 20 hours a week. How do you deal with that?
Ms. Raichik:
It’s tough sometimes, I’ll be honest. It’s very dark, it’s very depressing, it’s scary, but it’s so important. I push myself to scroll and to find content to show people what’s going on in classrooms. It’s not just teachers, it’s in every single field that we have these activists. In general, with the mental health crisis in America, I feature a lot of videos that show that.
Mr. Jekielek:
There are a few questions about these videos. Some people ask, and I’ve had this question myself, why are some of these folks admitting what they’re doing publicly on camera. They’re saying, “I’m doing something very subversive,” for example. A number of videos that you have featured talk about how they’re hiding things from parents. Why do you think people are posting these things?
Ms. Raichik:
TikTok attracts narcissists with the whole idea of an app where you go online and you just film yourself talking. Gender ideology in general is very narcissistic. It’s like, “These are my pronouns, this is my gender. Let me talk to you about how I want to be referred to and how you should refer to me.” It’s a really good match, those activists and TikTok, because TikTok is really a platform for narcissists. They love seeing themselves talking, and they love seeing themselves on camera. So, it’s perfect.
Mr. Jekielek:
Another thing you mentioned, you talked about gender ideology and LGBTQ. That’s not necessarily the same thing. There’s an account which seems somewhat aligned with what LibsofTikTok is doing called GazeAgainstGroomers. They would probably also say, “We’re part of the LGBTQ community.” But, they’re definitely against gender ideology. Do you ever communicate with folks like this?
Ms. Raichik:
Yes, I’ve been in contact with that account. They’re doing something really important and they don’t align with LGBTQ, I don’t think. They align with LGB. Their whole thing is LGB without the T, and obviously everything else that comes after that. That acronym just keeps getting longer. There’s a need for that, because there are a lot of people who are gay, and that’s fine. They just want to do that without being lumped in with all of the activists.
Mr. Jekielek:
I see. When you’re talking about this, you’re talking about the specific people that have this gender ideology orientation.
Ms. Raichik:
Exactly.
Mr. Jekielek:
I see. That’s interesting. It wasn’t necessarily obvious to me before. When it comes to TikTok, I had an interview with January Littlejohn, who’s daughter was socially transitioned in school, transitioned without her knowledge. One of the things that she talks about is these accounts on TikTok, where basically people encourage confused youth. “If you do all the things that will make you trans, follow the trans ideology, we’ll create this family for you, this very, warm, safe space.” Do you see this kind of content?
Ms. Raichik:
I see a lot of that content. They specifically target children who already have something else in their life which is bringing them down. There has been reporting how they target autistic children or they target kids from broken homes. They entice them, and they say, “Look, join our community. You’ll feel loved, you’ll feel accepted, you’ll get attention.”
So, they do prey on confused children, children who are struggling to begin with, and also, children struggling with gender dysphoria, which is a real struggle. I really feel for children who are struggling with that. Instead of helping these kids with their issues, they’re saying, “Oh, come join us. We’ll affirm you and you’ll only have love and acceptance.” So, it sounds good for a child.
Mr. Jekielek:
From what I understand from studies, most of that gender dysphoria will resolve on its own.
Ms. Raichik:
That’s what I believe. I’ve read a lot of similar studies, yes.
Mr. Jekielek:
I want to talk about your background, before Twitter and TikTok, back when you were in Brooklyn, and you were in real estate. You had a regular job, but then things changed.
Ms. Raichik:
I quit my job to run LibsofTikTok. I’m a Hasidic Jew and there’s a concept in Judaism that every single person is in this world for a reason. Every person has a purpose. I feel that through running “LibsofTikTok”, this is my mission now, and I’m very empowered to continue doing it.
Mr. Jekielek:
How is it that you ended up working with Seth Dillon?
Ms. Raichik:
Around the time that I was doxed, Seth reached out and he offered support. He shared how he believed in my mission, he believed in what I was doing, and he wanted to help me. So, we now work together. Seth is one of the most incredible people I’ve ever met, definitely the most incredible person I’ve ever worked with, and I’m so grateful to have him.
Mr. Jekielek:
Let’s talk about this doxing, because that’s when you definitely got a lot of attention. What happened there?
Ms. Raichik:
My account was anonymous, like most Twitter accounts, and then the far-Left media sent their little minion from the Washington Post to dox me. They thought that it would intimidate me into silence or scare me. Obviously, that was ever going to happen. Taylor Lorenz from the Washington Post shared my name and my location, and then obviously I wasn’t anonymous anymore.