According to
The Caret, Lorenz's reporting frequently concerns "
Silicon Valley venture capitalists, marketers and ... anyone curious about how the internet is shaping the ways in which humans express themselves and communicate".
Fortune named her to its "
40 Under 40" list in 2020, saying that she has "cemented herself as a peerless authority" whose name became "synonymous with youth culture online" during her time at
The Daily Beast and
The Atlantic. The same year,
Adweek included her on its list of "Young Influentials Who Are Shaping Media, Marketing and Tech", saying that she "contextualizes the internet as we live it".
Reason magazine credited her with popularizing the term "
OK boomer" in a story declaring "the end of friendly generational relations". 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
counter-protester 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 fellow at
Harvard University's
Nieman Foundation for Journalism where she studied how
Gen Z interacts with news on
Instagram.
2019–2022: The New York Times From 2019 to 2022, she was a technology reporter for
The New York Times. According to
TheWrap, "since her time at the
Times, she's attracted an inordinate amount of online criticism, particularly from those in the
right-wing media". While at the
Times, she broke the story that the
Bloomberg 2020 presidential campaign was paying Instagram meme accounts to post ads in the form of fake direct messages on the platform. 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.
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."
2022–2024: The Washington Post In March 2022, Lorenz left the
Times and joined
The Washington Post as a technology and online culture columnist. In April 2022, Lorenz wrote an article for the
Post that publicized the identity of
Chaya Raichik as the owner of the
far-right Twitter account
Libs of TikTok. The details were retrieved from early iterations of the account, as well as previous reporting. Raichik argued that Lorenz had
doxxed her, though Lorenz countered that Raichik's identity had already been publicly available. According to
The Times of London, "supporters of Lorenz meanwhile pointed out that Raichik's followers were only too enthusiastic about doxing when it came to teachers being smeared as ". In a tweet, Lorenz said that her "whole family was doxed again this morning ... trolls have now moved on to doxing and stalking any random friends I've tagged on Instagram". Lorenz later interviewed Raichik for an article in February 2024. 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
influencers 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
YouTubers 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.
2024–present: User Mag In October 2024, Lorenz announced she was leaving
The Washington Post to run a
Substack publication called "User Mag". Substack co-founder Hamish McKenzie told
The Hollywood Reporter that she is an "accomplished reporter with deep experience covering internet trends and culture" whom the platform thinks "will thrive ... with the direct support of her audience." 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".
Other works In October 2023, her book
Extremely Online: The Untold Story of Fame, Influence, and Power on the Internet was published by
Simon & Schuster. The book focused on various aspects of
internet culture. Some platforms discussed in the book include
mommy blogs,
YouTube, and
Vine. Lorenz discussed how
influencers struggled to
monetize their content and how prominent women such as
Julia Allison are often the targets of online harassment and misogyny. 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. ==As a target of harassment==