Charlie Kirk Shooting Sparks Fierce Social Media War Between Left And

Bonisiwe Shabane

-Nov 18, 2025, 9:19 PM

charlie kirk shooting sparks fierce social media war between left and

A police officer walks out of a building at Utah Valley University as authorities investigate the fatal shooting of political activist Charlie Kirk. Conservative influencers have reacted with grief and anger to Kirk's killing. Michael Ciaglo/Getty Images North America hide caption As news of the death of Charlie Kirk broke yesterday, conservative journalist Megyn Kelly was interviewing Glenn Beck, a prominent political commentator on the right. "There are news outlets reporting the worst now Glenn," Kelly said, choking back tears. "They're reporting that Charlie has died."

"There's no way he survived that," said Beck of the bullet that struck Kirk in the neck as he spoke at a college campus in Utah. He then began weeping. Across social media conservative influencers have exploded with a mix of grief and rage. Some mourned the loss of Kirk as a martyr, while others quickly blamed the left and Democrats for, at the very least, provoking the unknown shooter. Some went further still, suggesting without evidence that malevolent forces had orchestrated the killing. Their feelings were echoed by President Trump himself, who on Wednesday released a brief video that began by praising Kirk, before wheeling to attack.

This is read by an automated voice. Please report any issues or inconsistencies here. OREM, Utah — The killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk set off three days of some of the ugliest and most divisive social media reactions America has seen, leading Utah’s governor on Friday to... “Social media is a cancer on our society right now,” Gov. Spencer Cox, a Republican, said at a news conference announcing an arrest in Kirk’s killing. “I would encourage people to log off, turn off, touch grass, hug a family member, go out and do good in your community.”

His words immediately struck a chord in a nation where many have been stunned by the level of online anger since the killing. Kirk was shot by a sniper at a Utah university, and graphic video of the slaying immediately spread around social media platforms, heightening emotions. Some forces on the right have used the killing to call on the attack of liberals, some likening it to a civil war. Others celebrated Kirk’s death. Charlie Kirk’s mastery of social media was key to him becoming a force in conservative politics. Social media has become the town square for increasingly strident debate and the forum for which conservatives have sought to punish people they feel aren’t offering Kirk the proper respect.

American flags and flowers are displayed at a memorial for Charlie Kirk at Utah Valley University, Monday, Sept. 15, 2025, in Orem, Utah. (AP Photo/Jesse Bedayn) This combination of photos from 2017 to 2022 shows the logos of Facebook, YouTube, TikTok and Snapchat on mobile devices. (AP Photo, File) Volunteers from Maitry Nepal clean police station which was vandalized during anti-corruption protests sparked by a short-lived social media ban in Kathmandu, Nepal, Saturday, Sept.

13, 2025. (AP Photo/Niranjan Shrestha) Charlie Kirk’s mastery of social media was key to his rise as an influence in conservative politics. So the extent to which his death and its aftermath have played out on those forums shouldn’t come as a surprise. ALSO SEE: Molly Olmstead | On the Right, Charlie Kirk’s Death Feels Like “Crossing the Rubicon” MINUTES AFTER RIGHT-WING activist Charlie Kirk was fatally shot while speaking at an event in Utah on Wednesday, far-right influencers and extremist communities lit up social media with calls for violence against the left.

Kirk, the cofounder of the conservative youth organizing group Turning Point USA, was shot and killed while taking questions at a TPUSA event held at Utah Valley University. Law enforcement officials said late afternoon Wednesday that a “person of interest” was in custody, but that individual was later released. No motive has yet been reported by authorities. Despite this, many far-right influencers and Republican officials immediately blamed the left for carrying out the shooting. In some extremist groups, members called for civil war and violent retribution. “This is a war, this is a war, this is a war,” said Alex Jones, the influencer and school-shooting conspiracy theorist, during a livestream on his Infowars channel.

“For years those on the radical left have compared wonderful Americans like Charlie to Nazis and the world’s worst mass murderers and criminals,” said President Donald Trump in a taped address posted to his... “This kind of rhetoric is directly responsible for the terrorism that we’re seeing in the country today.” • Charlie Kirk, a conservative US political activist and campaigner for President Donald Trump, has been fatally shot at an event at Utah Valley University. • The shooter – who is still at large – is believed to have fired once from a nearby roof in a “targeted attack,” according to the Utah Department of Public Safety, which is... • A manhunt is underway. Two people who were considered suspects were later released, the department said.

• There has been an outpouring of condemnation from both sides of the aisle. Trump described Kirk’s death as a “dark moment for America” and blamed rhetoric from the “radical left” for causing political violence. • As Trump remade the Republican Party over the past decade, Kirk embodied the GOP’s newfound populist conservatism in the social media age. Trump has credited Kirk with galvanizing and mobilizing the youth vote for him. Editor’s Note: A previous version of this story misspelled the name of the city where a vigil was held Wednesday night. It has been corrected to Orem, Utah.

We regret the error. LATEST UPDATES: Authorities search for Charlie Kirk’s shooter Conservative activist Charlie Kirk was killed by a single shot in a targeted attack during an outdoor event Wednesday at Utah Valley University, authorities said. Kirk co-founded the conservative youth organization Turning Point USA and was a close ally of President Donald Trump. WATCH: Prominent conservative activist Charlie Kirk killed at event in Utah On September 10, 2025, Charlie Kirk, an American right-wing political activist, was assassinated while addressing an audience on the campus of Utah Valley University (UVU) in Orem, Utah, United States.

The outdoor event was the first stop of the Fall 2025 season for the American Comeback Tour, a speaking and debate series planned by Turning Point USA, a conservative youth organization that he co-founded. Kirk was fatally shot in the neck while engaging with an audience member about mass shootings in the United States by a sniper on the roof of a building approximately 142 yards (130 m)... The next day, 22-year-old Tyler James Robinson surrendered himself to the local sheriff. Prosecutors charged Robinson with murder on September 16 and announced they would seek the death penalty, alleging the attack was politically motivated.[2][3][4] The assassination was highlighted as an instance of increasing political violence within the United States and was condemned by national and foreign leaders. Video footage of the shooting spread rapidly on social media, and reactions ranged from heartfelt messages expressing anguish about the political climate to sharply partisan comments and celebrations of his death.[5][6][7] President Donald Trump,...

The Trump administration called for a crackdown against what it called "political extremism" on the left,[10][11][12][13] which was widely criticized by free speech advocates and legal experts as using the assassination as a pretext... Charlie Kirk was an American right-wing political activist, author, and media personality, known for co-founding and serving as CEO of Turning Point USA.[17][18] A close ally of US president Donald Trump, Kirk utilized his... Minutes after conservative political activist Charlie Kirk was shot yesterday at a speaking engagement at Utah Valley University, jarring videos of the incident began circulating on apps like TikTok, Instagram, and X. In the immediate aftermath, the majority of the videos viewed by WIRED did not contain content warnings. Many began autoplaying before viewers had the option to consent. And on X, an AI-generated recap of the incident falsely indicated that Kirk had survived the shooting.

Researchers tracking the spread of the shooting videos on social media say that major social platforms are falling short in enforcing their own content moderation rules, at a moment when political tensions and violence... And the video of Kirk being fatally shot is somehow falling into a policy loophole, threading the needle between allowable “graphic content” and the category of “glorified violence” that violates platform rules. “It’s unbelievable how some of these videos are still up. And with the way this stuff spreads, it is absolutely impossible to take down or add warnings to all of these horrific videos if you don’t have a robust trust and safety program,” says... Over the past two years, social platforms like X, TikTok, Facebook, and Instagram have scaled back their content moderation efforts—in some cases eliminating the work of human moderators who previously acted as a crucial... Many platforms use AI tools to try to spot and label potentially damaging video content, but the companies don’t always share specifics about how these tools are deployed.

The videos of Kirk being shot show him sitting on a stool answering questions from students and other spectators. The moments before, during, and after he was killed were captured on smartphones and shared quickly on social media. Many videos show Kirk suddenly recoiling, having been shot, and blood pouring from the left side of his neck.

Charlie Kirk Shooting Sparks Fierce Social Media War Between Left And

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