The Charlie Kirk Murder: A Chilling New Era of Political Violence
Charlie Kirk at Utah Valley University the day he was killed. Source: Reuters.
In an age where social media is filled with graphically violent content, the aftermath of Charlie Kirk’s murder highlights how a reduction in content moderation efforts by several major social media platforms has allowed people to consume graphic content, which is known to elicit stronger-than-usual reactions, and then air out their reactions immediately after. When such reactions come from not just random social media users but also from influential political figures, what is created as a result is a toxic environment filled with grief, rage, and a strong desire for vengeance.
Charlie Kirk, one of America’s most prominent conservative political activists and an influential ally of President Donald Trump, was shot dead on September 10, 2025, in Orem, Utah. Kirk was at Utah Valley University to kick off Turning Point USA’s American Comeback Tour when he was shot in the neck at 12:20 pm local time. Kirk was rushed to a nearby hospital in critical condition, where he was pronounced dead soon after.
22-year-old Tyler Robinson, Kirk’s alleged killer, was arrested in St. George, Utah, after an almost two-day-long manhunt. Robinson was charged with aggravated murder, two counts of obstruction of justice, and felony discharge of a firearm causing serious bodily injury, two counts of witness tampering, and commission of a violent offense in the presence of a child, with prosecutors intending to seek the death penalty.
Due to the overwhelming presence of cameras at the event, several videos of Kirk’s murder flooded social media platforms just minutes later and were viewed by millions of people. The haunting videos show Kirk debating another person about mass shootings when he is struck in the neck by a single bullet and starts profusely bleeding before falling out of his chair. Other videos captured Kirk being rushed into a car to be taken to a hospital, and a crowd of almost 3,000 people fleeing.
Although traditional news organizations such as newspapers and television networks have chosen not to broadcast any videos of Kirk’s killing, graphic videos of the shooting are largely available on most social media platforms. On YouTube and Meta platforms, users were required to acknowledge that they were willing to watch sensitive content. On X and TikTok, however, many graphic videos of the killing could be watched without any warning.
Over the past two years, several prominent social media platforms, including X, TikTok, Instagram, and Facebook, have reduced their content moderation efforts, allowing for a proliferation of graphically violent content on the internet. The use of human moderators has decreased, with several companies using artificial intelligence to undertake content moderation without specifying exactly how their AI tools filter content. Several researchers pointed out that most social media platforms are failing to enforce their own content moderation rules. It is such failures that have allowed many explicit videos of Kirk’s shooting to be widely available on major social media platforms without a trigger warning.
The murder of Charlie Kirk marks the dawn of a chilling new era of political violence, one in which people are free to view explicit events of gruesome political violence and air out their reactions right after. While several politicians across the political spectrum and all former living US presidents swiftly condemned Kirk’s slaying, others responded in alarming ways. On one hand, many social media users appeared to mock Kirk’s death. On the other hand, several prominent conservative commentators, social media users, and politicians moved to blame Democrats and the Left for the murder, with some even going as far as calling for retaliatory violence. President Trump claimed that “the radical left” was “directly responsible for the terrorism we are seeing in our country today.” Trump also remarked that he “couldn't care less” about bringing the country together when asked about uniting the country.
Social media is known for pushing content that invokes rage among people to keep them engaged. Graphic violence on social media is also known to elicit strong reactions from people who view it. Research indicates that threatening rhetoric by party leaders serves to increase support for political violence. When all these things occur simultaneously, they create an environment filled with extreme feelings of rage and grief, as well as a strong desire for violence and vengeance. This is the exact environment America is in today. Social media and harmful rhetoric from party leaders and political commentators are fanning the flames of the fire Kirk’s murder has ignited, with a frightening increase in calls for violence and even civil war. If major social media platforms do not work to take down videos of graphic violence, such as that of Charlie Kirk’s murder, and politicians do not tone down their rhetoric, it will be difficult for things to change for the better. In a precarious moment of political violence in America, it remains essential to avoid divisive images and rhetoric.