Chaya Raichik, creator of the anti-LGBTQ+ account Libs of TikTok, was appointed to the state’s Library Media Advisory Committee. Her posts frequently are followed by bomb threats on schools.
Ryan Walters, the state superintendent of public instruction for the Oklahoma State Department of Education, has appointed Chaya Raichik, creator of the extremist online Twitter account known as Libs of TikTok, to the Library Media Advisory Committee on Tuesday. He claimed that she would help “make Oklahoma schools safer for kids and friendly to parents.” Her appointment, however, contrasts with her history of targeting LGBTQ+ people in schools and hospitals through viral posts that often precede bomb threats against her targets. This appointment is not Superintendent Walters’ first controversial decision. Previously, he advocated for policies promoting Christianity in public schools and entered into an agreement with PragerU to provide right-wing educational programming in schools. This educational programming claimed, among other things, that slavery was “no big deal.”
Libs of TikTok, managed by Raichik, became active in 2021 and quickly gained notoriety for posting videos and pictures of transgender and queer individuals, medical providers, teachers, and Pride events. These posts often include editorialized captions labeling the subjects as groomers. The account’s viral posts frequently precede bomb threats against its targets. For instance, after a post about Boston Children’s Hospital’s transgender care, the hospital received bomb threats, leading to intermittent shutdowns. In Kiel, Wisconsin, following a tweet about a transgender person in the local school district, multiple responses called for violence against the district. Consequently, Kiel schools faced a month of disruption due to bomb threats. Other instances of violent threats following her posts have affected the University of South Dakota, a library in North Carolina, and even a librarian in Oklahoma’s Union Public Schools district. Now, Raichik will have direct influence over the library system that her posts have endangered.
Raichik appears unfazed by the violence her posts seem to spur, and in fact seems to revel in it. In an article published by Media Matters, the site 35 identified threats of violence in one report. Another disinformation researcher found 66 instances of threats following her tweets, often within 5 days of posting. When USA Today published a groundbreaking article titled “When Libs of TikTok tweets, threats increasingly follow,” the account posted a picture of Raichik holding the paper and posing with a smile. She also changed her banner for a short time to a picture of her logo with bomb fuses attached to it.
No intelligent person should ever be in Oklahoma.
It’s originally a JJ Cale song, but Yonder lights it on fire. RIP Jeff Austin.