TWITTER FILES: Taylor Lorenz had ‘privileged access’ to platform before Elon Musk took over | The Post Millennial

On Thursday, the latest round of Twitter Files dropped, with independent journalist Paul Thacker diving into journalist and “banning queen” Taylor Lorenz‘s “privileged access” to the higher-ups at the social media giant in the pre-Musk era.

Thacker revealed that Lorenz communicated with those who controlled Twitter’s backend, calling for favors to ban certain accounts and support others she worked with in her reporting.

Thacker began by reminding everyone that after Musk purchased Twitter and took over as CEO, Lorenz was “apoplectic,” and had warned that he was “opening the gates of hell” by allowing banned accounts back on the platform.

Thacker explained that in the months prior, Lorenz had gone after numerous accounts, including some that were minuscule in comparison to her own. One such account, @fearthefloof, was banned, and then mysteriously deactivated, despite “no ban evasion, abuse, harassment toward Taylor Lorenz, platform manipulation, or the sharing of personal information.” It remains suspended to this day.

Thacker suggested Lorenz “seems to work in concert with her sources,” pointing out that after she doxxed LibsofTikTok, Alejandra Caraballo sent a letter to Twitter asking that the prominent conservative activist’s account be removed. Carabello was quoted in a Lorenz article not long after.

Lorenz’s privileged access to Twitter went beyond simply calling for accounts to be banned. She was given support to evade criticism and asked that the platform specifically assist her sources when they needed it.

After Tucker Carlson ridiculed her on his show, Twitter put out a notice telling the GET team asking them to keep an eye on things.

“Can we please Monitor the conversation around @taylorlorenz?” the request stated. “She was specifically targeted by Tucker Carlson … and I think she’s going to be in the center of an abuse campaign on the platform. She’s had tremendous trouble with abuse on her before and we need to be careful with her.”

According to Thacker, there was no evidence that Twitter provided similar levels of support to other journalists. 

In December, after Musk took over, Lorenz was suspended but regained control of her account soon after.