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Taylor Lorenz (born ) is an American journalist and technology columnist who covers Internet culture. She has written for The Washington Post, The New York Times, The Daily Beast, Business Insider, and The Daily Mail. In 2023, she published a book called Extremely Online: The Untold Story of Fame, Influence, and Power on the Internet. In 2024, Lorenz left the Washington Post following an internal investigation after Lorenz posted an image on Instagram labeling president Joe Biden as a "war criminal". Lorenz subsequently began publishing a newsletter called User Mag as well as a podcast called Power User.
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 Hills blog section, and was assaulted by a 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 scholar at Harvard University's Nieman Foundation for Journalism where she studied how Gen Z interacts with news on Instagram.
In 2021, while working for The New York Times, Lorenz posted on social media in support of International Women's Day and discussed online harassment she had faced while urging others to support women going through similar experiences. Subsequently, Tucker Carlson criticized her in a segment discussing "powerful people claiming to be powerless" on his Fox News show, which led to further harassment. Writing in the First Amendment Law Review, professor Lili Levi noted "that this kind of publicity is effectively a call to arms for further harassment by members of Carlson's audience." The New York Times and the International Women's Media Foundation both issued statements in support of Lorenz that condemned the actions of Carlson, with The New York Times stating, "Lorenz is a talented New York Times journalist doing timely and essential reporting. Journalists should be able to do their jobs without facing harassment", and calling Carlson's actions a "cruel and calculated tactic". Both Fox News and Carlson would release statements defending Carlson's criticism of Lorenz, with Fox News stating, "No public figure or journalist is immune to legitimate criticism of their reporting, claims or journalistic tactics."
In May 2022, Lorenz published a report in the Post about the Joe Biden administration "pausing" the newly created Disinformation Governance Board within the Department of Homeland Security. Lorenz described a campaign of online harassment and highly critical coverage from right-wing media outlets toward the board's director Nina Jankowicz, who would resign from the post shortly afterward. In the article, Lorenz argued that Jankowicz had been "set up to fail" by the administration, describing how Jankowicz had become the victim of attacks by online right-wing and conservative media personalities, including threats of physical violence.
In June 2022, the Post published an article by Lorenz about online influencers covering the Depp v. Heard trial. The article stated two mentioned in the article were contacted for comment. The Post later issued a correction, stating only one had been contacted. The YouTuber has said the request for comment only came after the article was published. In a Twitter thread reviewed by Lorenz's editors and management of the Post, Lorenz stated that the error was due to a miscommunication with her editor.
In December 2022, Twitter owner Elon Musk temporarily suspended Lorenz's Twitter account, with Musk tweeting that the suspension was for "prior doxxing action". Lorenz said she was suspended after asking Musk for comment on a story. The suspension followed a series of suspensions of journalists under Musk's new ownership of Twitter.
In coverage of the 2024 Democratic National Convention, Lorenz highlighted social media influencers credentialed by the DNC.
In August 2024, the Post began an internal investigation for evidence of bias after Lorenz shared an image on a private Instagram story depicting President Joe Biden with the caption "war criminal :(", referencing a meme criticizing the president for his support of Israel in the Gaza war. Lorenz initially denied making the post, and later said that a friend created the captioned picture, which Lorenz shared. According to NPR, four people with direct knowledge of the post confirmed its authenticity. Lorenz never published another article for The Post, which did not announce any findings of its investigation. In October 2024, she announced she was leaving the Post to start her own newsletter via Substack. Lorenz told The New Yorker that her decision to leave the Post was not a direct result of the incident and that "every single President that I've ever seen in my lifetime is a war criminal".
In 2025, it was announced that Lorenz would also contribute a column to Mehdi Hasan's Zeteo on the influence of Silicon Valley tech billionaires.
Lorenz drew criticism, particularly from conservative politicians, for comments she made during a CNN interview in April 2025 following the killing of health insurance CEO Brian Thompson, where Lorenz described the suspect in the case Luigi Mangione as "morally good". She later said, "To see these millionaire media pundits on TV clutching their pearls about someone stanning a murderer when this is the United States of America, as if we don't lionize criminals and stan murderers of all sorts, and we can give them Netflix shows".
In February 2024, it was announced that Lorenz would be launching a podcast called Power User in partnership with Vox Media. In December 2024, Semafor wrote an article which stated that her distribution partnership would not be renewed, a claim that Lorenz denied, further clarifying that she retains full ownership of the show and is continuing to publish episodes independently.
Much of the harassment has originated from right-wing online spaces, with The Independent noted that "Lorenz is a regular target of attacks from the right online, with comments she makes frequently blowing up and feeding an arguably disingenuous outrage culture, so much so that she has been called 'the most harassed technology journalist in America' and her career recommended for study to fellow reporters". Lorenz has described the abuse as including graphic threats, doxing, stalking, and swatting, affecting both her and her family. Reports have highlighted that the tactics used against her reflect broader misogynistic patterns, both online and offline.
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