Two Republican politicians have called on social media companies including X and Facebook to remove any graphic videos of the fatal shooting of conservative activist Charlie Kirk at Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah, on Wednesday.
Newsweek reached out to Elon Musk, owner of the X platform, Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg and TikTok by email outside of business hours.
Why It Matters
The killing of the high-profile conservative organizer at a Utah college campus has raised fears of more polarization in U.S. politics and concerns about increasing political violence.
On June 14, 2025, State Representative Melissa Hortman was killed in a shooting at her home in Brooklyn Park, Minnesota. Earlier that morning, another Minnesota lawmaker, State Senator John Hoffman, and his wife Yvette, were shot in their home in nearby Champlin and hospitalized.
What To Know
Florida Representative Anna Paulina Luna said in a post on X that the site, along with Facebook and TikTok, should remove footage of the moment Kirk was killed.
“I am calling on @elonmusk, @finkd, and @tiktok_us to remove the horrifying videos of Charlie Kirk’s murder,” said Luna, referring to Musk, Zuckerberg and TikTok.
“He has a family, young children, and no one should be forced to relive this tragedy online. These are not the only graphic videos of horrifying murders circulating—at some point, social media begins to desensitize humanity. We must still value life. Please take them down.”
Fellow Republican Representative Lauren Boebert, from Colorado, said she appreciated Luna’s call and supported it.
“Thank you!!! I agree completely! I NEVER want to see that again!! I hate that I saw it at all,” Boebert said on X in response to Luna’s post.
Some 3,000 students had gathered to listen to Kirk and many of them captured the shooting and its chaotic aftermath on their phones.
Kirk, 31, the charismatic co-founder of the right-leaning youth organization Turning Point USA and a longtime ally of President Donald Trump, was delivering a speech under a campus tent in Orem, Utah, when a single gunshot struck him in the neck.
He collapsed, was taken to hospital and later pronounced dead.
The killing has drawn widespread condemnation from all corners of the political spectrum, but also sharp finger-pointing from pundits and public figures on the right who see the murder of one of their most influential young stars as nothing short of a seminal moment in a long history of American political violence.
What People Are Saying
President Donald Trump said in an announcement: “For years, those on the radical left have compared wonderful Americans like Charlie to Nazis and the world’s worst mass murderers and criminals. This kind of rhetoric is directly responsible for the terrorism that we’re seeing in our country today and it must stop right now.”
New York Democratic Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez told reporters: “Enough of this. This is horrific, this [is] awful and the assassination of Charlie Kirk risks an uncorking of political chaos and violence that we cannot risk in America.”
What Happens Next
A search by law enforcement for the person who shot Kirk is underway.
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