Taylor Lorenz Supporters Decry ‘Harassment Campaign’ as Washington Post Probes Biden Meme

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The Washington Post is “looking into” a social media post by tech columnist Taylor Lorenz .

The prominent tech reporter posted a photo on her Instagram “close friends” list — a limited audience hand selected by the poster — from a White House event held for social media creators. The image showed President Joe Biden on stage and had the caption “war criminal” along with a frowny face.

The image was leaked from Lorenz’s Instagram to Jon Levine , a New York Post reporter who has spent years criticizing her (people close to Lorenz describe his fixation as “an obsession.”) Levine posted the image on X, leading to an onslaught of criticism towards Lorenz, who replied: “You people will fall for any dumbass edit someone makes.”

One of the people on Lorenz’s “close friends” list confirmed to Mediaite that she did indeed post the photo with the caption to her Instagram story. They claimed the caption had been added to the photo by a third party, not Lorenz, and that she then shared the edit on her story.

A Washington Post spokesperson told Mediaite “we are aware of the alleged social media post and are looking into it.”

One person on Lorenz’s Instagram “close friends” list who spoke with Mediaite said her post was a joke that had been taken out of context. They said the “war criminal” caption was a reference to a meme spawned when boygenius singer Lucy Dacus replied to her inclusion in Barack Obama’s summer playlist: “war criminal” with a frowny face.

“It was 100 percent taken out of context,” said the Lorenz close friend. “Anyone on Taylor’s ‘close friends’ list knew it was a reference to the Lucy Dacus meme. It was a meme that had nothing to do with the Israel/Hamas War or President Biden.”

As Lorenz came under fire for her claims about the veracity of the post, several journalists publicly defended her on X.

NBC News reporter Brandy Zadrozny wrote , “Here’s the thing. There is a whole industry of people including certain folks at Fox News and LibsofTikTok that have staked an entire career on stalking Taylor and fomenting fake outrage every time she posts – from over a decade ago, ‘criticizing’ her avocado toast lunch to this big reveal of a (maybe you think bad taste) joke in a private chat based on a widely known meme. For lord’s sake. Writing about it like it’s actual news is letting yourself be a tool of those bad faith operators. It’s gross. And yet it’s the price of admission for writing about the internet.”

She added: “It’s gamergate over and over and over again . And I really really hope WaPo and other news orgs have learned better.”

The fracas even inspired a University of Maryland Professor to send an email to Washington Post leadership defending Lorenz. Dr. Jen Golbeck , who specializes in online extremism, wrote the criticism of Lorenz is “a classic instance of a far-right, bad faith, misogynistic harassment campaign.”

The letter, which was obtained by Mediaite, explained the characteristics of such “harassment campaigns” going back to Gamergate. It also explained the origins of the “war criminal” meme.

“As someone who actively researches social harassment campaigns just like Taylor is enduring now, I encourage the Washington Post to not engage in good faith with the outrage trolling about this post,” Golbeck wrote. “People who are making claims about being offended are lying and engaging in bad faith. They have an explicit and long-standing goal of attacking Taylor simply because she is a high-visibility woman speaking online about topics that the right opposes. Treating their comments as serious or valid only fuels the harassment campaign.”

“I encourage you to not fall for this bait; punishing Taylor would be a capitulation to this far-right harassment campaign,” she concluded.

Lorenz did not respond to requests for comment.