Thousands flagged online for cheering Charlie Kirk's death
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Charlie Kirk gives a speech on July 15, 2023. Photo: Eva Marie Uzcategui/Bloomberg via Getty Images.
An online group known as the Charlie Kirk Data Foundation is crowdsourcing a database of social media users who purportedly criticized the late conservative activist or celebrated his death last week.
Why it matters: The anonymous organizers say their goal is to "clear out Leftwing Radicals" and "reshape the rank-and-file of America's institutions."
- They claim to have identified over 60,000 people as of Sunday evening. `
- "We will reshape the rank-and-file of America's institutions. Academia. Law enforcement. The military. Finance. Law. Government. Bureaucracy," the group wrote on X. "Medicine and healthcare too."
Driving the news: The Foundation encourages people to "submit data for Charlie." It sprung up shortly after posts went viral celebrating the Turning Point USA co-founder's killing at an event on a Utah college campus.
- It claims to be run by "political operatives that have represented major parties and candidates," according to its X account.
- The group says it is not "doxxing" people, or identifying people by their personal information, but it is creating a database that will be "searchable by general location, employer, and industry type."
What they're saying: "We lawfully collect publicly-available data to analyze the prominence of support for political violence in the interest of public education," the Foundation wrote on X.
- The group did not respond to Axios' request for comment.
Between the lines: Jacob Mchangama, the executive director of nonpartisan think tank The Future of Free Speech, told Axios that the database may not be illegal, but it could have a chilling effect on debate in America.
- "It is perfectly legitimate to heavily criticize someone who has made callous remarks about the killing of Charlie Kirk," Mchangama said.
- "That is part and parcel of free speech. But when you make a searchable database ... that seems to be with the intention of essentially chilling speech by making sure that there are punitive consequences for people who have said things that the organizers don't like."
The big picture: People across the country are facing professional consequences over their comments or social media reactions to Kirk's death.
- MSNBC political analyst Matthew Dowd lost his job after saying "hateful words" lead to "hateful actions" in the network's coverage of Kirk's death.
- Washington Post columnist Karen Attiah claimed she was fired for "speaking out against political violence, racial double standards, and America's apathy toward guns," in a Substack post on Monday.
- School board members, professors, teachers, and others across the country have also been placed on leave or fired for making insensitive comments about Kirk.
Zoom out: Trump administration officials have also threatened to punish military members and target immigrants for their speech about Kirk's death.
- President Trump blamed "radicals on the left," vowed to pursue anyone "who contributed to this atrocity, " and said he would target "other political violence, including the organizations that fund it and support it."
Cabinet members have echoed his position.
- Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy praised United Airlines for firing a pilot who criticized Kirk.
Go deeper: Behind the Curtain: Four ominous trends tearing America apart
Editor's note: This story has been updated with additional context and with comments from the executive director of nonpartisan think tank The Future of Free Speech.
