The New York Times’ Taylor Lorenz spent last night highlighting the TikTok feed of George and Kellyanne Conway’s 15-year-old daughter, Claudia, pointing out that a number of her posts are anti-Trump:
Kellyanne Conway’s daughter posting “save Barron 2020” content on TikTok https://t.co/3J5TVieIrp pic.twitter.com/z42ylMmIh8
— Taylor Lorenz (@TaylorLorenz) June 30, 2020
You can click here feed if you want to see the others, but shouldn’t a kid be out-of-bounds?
She is 15 years old. https://t.co/SChzT0jXs2
— JERRY DUNLEAVY (@JerryDunleavy) June 30, 2020
Lorenz is defending her tweets:
And? So what, she can’t have political beliefs of her own or express herself online?
— Taylor Lorenz (@TaylorLorenz) June 30, 2020
Well, sure. She can have her own political beliefs. But why is it anyone’s business?
I'm genuinely curious why you are sharing a 15 year old's posts with hundreds of thousands of people? Is there not a general rule that we leave politician's kids out of it?
— JERRY DUNLEAVY (@JerryDunleavy) June 30, 2020
Lorenz appears to believe it’s OK and she’s allegedly “talked to” Claudia about it:
She already had thousands of views and has been going viral on TikTok for her vids about her mom, also I talked to her abt tweeting and we are mutuals. Idk what you want but she’s her own person growing her own online audience! https://t.co/yUezOb4Fh5 https://t.co/onFFtdkfKR
— Taylor Lorenz (@TaylorLorenz) June 30, 2020
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Pro tip: Adults should not be messaging teens online, for any reason. What is the NYT policy about this?
Kind of weird to be “mutuals” with a 15 yr old
— Amber Athey (@amber_athey) June 30, 2020
But it’s her job, she argues:
Not for me! I write about teenage influencers and TikTok stars. I think it’s great that young people are making their voices and views heard online. You can read my coverage here 🙂 https://t.co/ZB9ZIlG10z
— Taylor Lorenz (@TaylorLorenz) June 30, 2020
Maybe get a parent’s permission first?
It’s one thing if you’re getting permission from parents to put their kids’ content on blast but as a reporter I think you should know better than to be commiserating with a 15 year old. It is still weird.
— Amber Athey (@amber_athey) June 30, 2020
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