‘Civil war’ mentions surge online after Kirk assassination
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox
A flag planted in memory of right-wing influencer Charlie Kirk, who was shot dead, outside of the US Capitol on Sept 11.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Sheera Frenkel and Stuart A. Thompson
Minutes after the shooting of right-wing influencer Charlie Kirk
The term “civil war” was mentioned more than 129,000 times on social platform X on Sept 10, according to an analysis by The New York Times. On Sept 11, it was mentioned at least 210,000 times. That was up from a daily average of around 18,000 in previous months.
Many of the posts that included the phrase were reposted on other platforms, including Truth Social, TikTok and Instagram.
The talk of civil war came largely from Republican lawmakers, right-wing media personalities and conservative podcasters, according to a review by The New York Times. Some questioned whether America was already engaged in a civil war over its values, while others called for violence after Mr Kirk’s death.
Among those who used the phrase were Mr Alex Jones, the creator of Infowars, a right-wing media platform; Ms Chaya Raichik, who is behind the prominent LibsofTikTok social media account, which frequently attacks the LGBTQ+ community; and Andrew Tate, a right-wing influencer known for his misogynistic views.
“Civil war”, Tate wrote in a two-word post on X after Mr Kirk was shot. It has been viewed more than 16 million times.
The surging use of the term highlights the divisions among Americans and continues a familiar pattern of inflammatory language.
In recent years, civil war has been increasingly mentioned on social media after major political moments in the United States, especially those that involve US President Donald Trump, according to a New York Times analysis of data from Tweet Binder by Audiense, a social media analytics company.
After a 2022 Federal Bureau of Investigation raid on Mr Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club in Florida, which was part of a US Justice Department inquiry into Mr Trump’s attempts to stay in office after the 2020 election, mentions of civil war on X rose to more than 118,000 over a two-day period. In July 2024, when a gunman tried to assassinate Mr Trump at a Pennsylvania rally, more than 260,000 mentions of civil war appeared on X over the next two days, the analysis found.
Often, the phrase was used in warnings suggesting that right-wing Americans are being targeted in a civil war or goaded to start one. Other times, “civil war” was a call to action.
Mr Jared Holt, a researcher at Open Measures, a company that monitors influence operations online, said mentions of civil war on major social media platforms show that the term is “not fringe”.
Conversations on mainstream platforms increasingly resemble the kind of extremist content he sees on far-right social media sites, he noted.
“The real risk,” he said, “is that it creates a permission structure for threats and violence against perceived political enemies.”
The term “civil war” began rising this week with right-wing personalities and influencers and Republican members of Congress.
On Sept 10, Representative Derrick Van Orden of Wisconsin posted on X: “The left and their policies are leading America into a civil war. And they want it.”
Others did not use the words “civil war” but called for a federal crackdown on the left or for people to take other actions.
Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia posted on X on Sept 10 that she was “praying that this country rises up and ends this”. Mr Matt Forney, a right-wing influencer, posted that “every Democratic politician must be arrested”.
Mr Elon Musk, X’s owner and the most-followed person on the platform, had one of the most widely shared and liked posts evoking war after Mr Kirk’s death.
“If they won’t leave us in peace, then our choice is fight or die,” he wrote. His post was viewed more than 1.7 million times and liked over 37,000 times.
By the evening of Sept 11, some prominent right-wing figures had pushed back on the divisive language and called for calm.
Mr David Brody, a commentator with the Christian Broadcasting Network, said that while the shooting of Mr Kirk raised the potential for civil war in the United States, he prayed that it would never turn violent.
“We’ve got to be praying like we’ve never prayed before,” he wrote. NYTIMES
