Libs of TikTok is an anonymous Twitter account that posts TikTok videos of bad or extreme left-wing takes so conservatives can get mad.

It’s a new twist on a classic form of internet content called “nutpicking,”1 where instead of engaging with the strongest arguments and best evidence for views you’re skeptical of, you hold up examples of dumbasses and make fun of them (see also Julian Sanchez on the “weak man argument”). And it’s not hard to find this content. America has more than three million teachers working in over 100,000 K-12 schools, so even if “saying something really dumb” is objectively rare behavior, it is nonetheless easy to find thousands of examples of it happening.

The account has become quite popular and has been featured frequently on Fox News and cited by Republicans to bolster the case for new laws clamping down on discussion of LGBT issues in schools.

This led Taylor Lorenz to do some classic journalistic sleuthing, looking into who is behind the account. If that…