Chaya Raichik accused an NBC journalist of silencing tactics and claims victimhood in the face of scrutiny over her incendiary online behavior.
Chaya Raichik accused an NBC journalist of silencing tactics and claims victimhood in the face of scrutiny over her incendiary online behavior.
In the wake of an NBC News investigation detailing how Chaya Raichik’s social media posts may have influenced a wave of bomb threats across the United States and Canada, Raichik, 29, has launched a vigorous counterattack at the media outlet. Known for her far-right extremist anti-LGBTQ+ Libs of TikTok account, Raichik turned to X, formerly Twitter, accusing NBC News and its reporter, David Ingram, of trying to incriminate her unjustly and labeling them as the real threats to public safety.
The NBC News piece explored connections between Raichik’s online activities, particularly her critiques of LGBTQ+ people and content, and subsequent threats to various institutions.
This has led security experts to describe her influence as a form of stochastic terrorism, a tactic identified for its capacity to incite random acts of violence through broad, provocative messaging.
NBC News unearthed a concerning pattern: approximately 33 instances were identified where institutions or individuals criticized by Raichik subsequently faced bomb threats or other forms of violent intimidation. These incidents, spanning from November 2020, affected schools, libraries, hospitals, small businesses, and elected officials across 16 states, Washington, D.C., and Ontario, Canada.
In a study evaluating Left-Wing and Right-Wing domestic extremism between 1994 and 2020, there was one fatality as the result of Left-Wing extremism, versus 329 fatalities resulting from Far Right extremism in that 25 year period. [5]
The Far-Right movement is the oldest and most deadly form of domestic terrorism in the United States, and The Anti-Defamation League Center on Extremism found that the Far-Right is responsible for 98% of extremist murders in the U.S. [24] Furthermore, for nearly every year since 2011, Far-Right terrorist attacks/plots have accounted for over half of all terror attacks/plots in the United States. [21]
In the U.S., Right-Wing extremism was responsible for two-thirds of all failed, foiled, or successful terror attacks in 2019, and was responsible for 90% of attacks in the first half of 2020 alone. [21] Since 2013, Far-Right extremism has been responsible for more terror attacks/plots than the Left-Wing, ethnonationalism, or religiously motivated attacks/plots. [21]