Charlie Kirk Shooting Sparks Wave Of Online Falsehoods Aap

Bonisiwe Shabane

-Nov 18, 2025, 8:11 PM

charlie kirk shooting sparks wave of online falsehoods aap

Charlie Kirk previously debated his alleged shooter. False. The person in the video is not suspected shooter Tyler Robinson. AAP FACTCHECK - The assassination of right-wing political activist and commentator Charlie Kirk has led to a range of false accusations and conspiracy theories from Australian and New Zealand social media users. Mr Kirk, 31, co-founder of conservative advocacy group Turning Point USA, was shot and killed during an event at Utah Valley University on September 10, 2025. The alleged shooter, 22-year-old Tyler Robinson, was arrested in the days after and remains in custody.

On Sept. 10, 2025, Turning Point USA co-founder and conservative commentator Charlie Kirk was fatally shot during a Utah college speaking event. Politicians from all sides of the political spectrum, including U.S. President Donald Trump, Vice President JD Vance and former President Joe Biden, condemned the shooting. Snopes is working on fact-checking claims that have spread online after Kirk's death. We fact-checked his last words, as well as famous quotes, like a comment he made about Jewish money ruining the U.S.

Here are six claims we've fact-checked about Kirk since the shooting: The shooting of Charlie Kirk unleashed a wave of conspiracy theories and misinformation, much of it coming from chatbots. On Thursday, the day after Kirk died, for example, the X account of AI chatbot Perplexity was confidently proclaiming that Kirk was still alive. The post has since been removed. But Elon Musk’s chatbot Grok, meanwhile, was under a similar misapprehension. "The video is a meme edit—Charlie Kirk is debating, and effects make it look like he's 'shot' mid-sentence for comedic effect," it claimed.

"No actual harm; he's fine and active as ever." This isn't the first time chatbots have delivered confidently false information. "During the Los Angeles protests and Israel-Hamas war, users similarly turned to chatbots for answers and were served inaccurate information," NewsGuard researchers said. "Despite repeated examples of these tools confidently repeating falsehoods, as documented in NewsGuard’s Monthly AI False Claims Monitor, many continue to treat AI systems as reliable sources in moments of crisis and uncertainty." Kirk was killed Wednesday during an outdoor debate event on campus. Students who witnessed his assassination are reckoning with trauma and grief.

Kirk, the CEO and co-founder of the conservative youth organization Turning Point USA, was a top podcaster, culture warrior and ally of President Donald Trump. (AP video by Thomas Peipert) The New York Young Republicans Club holds a vigil for Turning Point USA CEO and co-founder Charlie Kirk at Madison Square Park on Friday, Sept. 12, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Kena Betancur) A flood of false and misleading claims filled social media in the two days it took officials to arrest and publicly identify 22-year-old Tyler Robinson as the suspect in Wednesday’s assassination of conservative activist...

The reaction followed a well-worn pattern of misinformation and conspiracy theories that often come after breaking news events when facts can be fluid. Those kinds of posts appeared within hours of the shooting, with some of the earliest incorrectly identifying the gunman before officials had released any information about a suspect. More claims spawned on Thursday and Friday, presenting old videos and photos as recent footage of the shooter and erroneously reporting on Robinson’s background. A flood of false and misleading claims filled social media in the two days it took officials to arrest and publicly identify 22-year-old Tyler Robinson as the suspect in Wednesday’s assassination of conservative activist... 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. Gruesome videos of Charlie Kirk being shot in the neck circulated rapidly on the internet. In the days before they arrested suspect Tyler Robinson, so did false accusations that the shooter was transgender.

This pattern has repeatedly played out in major shootings over the last few years. Before authorities even release information about the suspect, politicians and commentators put forward conspiracy theories that the attacker was trans, which are almost always debunked. Kirk was a prominent conservative activist and a close ally of President Donald Trump. In the 33-hour search for his suspected killer, a later-corrected report said the ammunition had messages related to the transgender community engraved into it, but the messages were instead reported to be anti-fascist and... Close inspection of the video revealed that the last question Kirk answered at a public gathering was about transgender shooters. It’s possible that could have fueled the flames of these falsities.

Misinformation about previous shootings resurfaced, too, in recent weeks, with lists circulating on social media saying the suspect in the Uvalde school shooting, for example, was trans when he was not. The Trump administration has repeatedly targeted the trans community. The conspiracies that suggest there is a rising number of transgender shooters are not only incorrect, but they have some fearing the falsities could cause more harm for a community whose rights are being... SALT LAKE CITY (KUTV) — A flood of false and misleading claims filled social media in the two days it took officials to arrest and publicly identify 22-year-old Tyler Robinson as the suspect in... The reaction followed a well-worn pattern of misinformation and conspiracy theories that often come after breaking news events when facts can be fluid. Those kinds of posts appeared within hours of the shooting, with some of the earliest incorrectly identifying the gunman before officials had released any information about a suspect.

More claims spawned on Thursday and Friday, presenting old videos and photos as recent footage of the shooter and erroneously reporting on Robinson's background. THE FACTS: This is false. Utah records say Robinson was registered as a voter, but not affiliated with either political party. His voter status is inactive, meaning he did not vote in two regular general elections after receiving a notice from his county clerk. According to Utah Gov. Spencer Cox, Robinson's family said he had become “more political in recent years” and had criticized Kirk, mentioning that he was due to appear at an event in Utah and saying “Kirk was full...

THE FACTS: This is false. Priscilla Yeverino, spokesperson for the group, confirmed that “we have no members in DSA named Tyler Robinson anywhere in the country.” A photo of a person who bears a resemblance to Robinson wearing a... Yeverino declined to confirm that person's identity “for this person's privacy and safety.” Prior to Robinson’s arrest, many on social media were quick to assume the shooter was a Democrat and prominent conservative figures,... THE FACTS: This is false. The video was filmed on July 28, more than a month before Kirk was shot and began spreading before Robinson was arrested. It shows Dakota Hawver, the suspected gunman who killed three people and injured three others at the Grand Sierra Resort in Reno, Nevada, running from the front of the resort in the direction of...

Multiple local news networks published the footage after the Reno shooting. Hawver was shot by police and died in the hospital days later. A version of the misrepresented video included a caption falsely stating: “video shows Charlie Kirk's real shooter escaping.”

Charlie Kirk Shooting Sparks Wave Of Online Falsehoods Aap

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