Influencers from abroad are tirelessly manipulating the narrative surrounding the assassination of Charlie Kirk
In the aftermath of the shooting of conservative commentator Charlie Kirk, concerns have been raised about foreign interference in the ensuing discourse. Utah Gov. Spencer Cox warned of bots from Russia, China, and other countries trying to instill misinformation and encourage violence. However, a more nuanced picture is emerging, as experts caution that the impact of foreign influence may not be as significant as initially feared.
Darren Linvill, co-director of the Media Forensics Hub at Clemson University, expressed that the toxic discourse around Kirk's shooting is primarily home-grown, stating, "It's not the Russians, it's us." Linvill went online to check on the feeds of foreign-paid influencers after Kirk was shot last week, and found that while they were discussing the shooting, there wasn't much evidence that those messages were reaching Americans.
State-run influence campaigns in Russia, China, and Iran have mentioned Kirk's assassination more than 6,000 times. Russian state media often blames Ukraine for Kirk's assassination, while Iranian state media points the finger at Israel. Chinese state media uses the Kirk story to mock the U.S. as being unstable and out of control and divided.
Bret Schafer, a senior fellow at the Alliance for Securing Democracy at the German Marshall Fund of the U.S., stated that there's been a systematic dismantling of every part of the U.S. government that was tasked with countering foreign malign influence. Groups tracking foreign influence at several U.S. government agencies, including the State Department, FBI, Department of Homeland Security, and Office of the Director of National Intelligence, have been disbanded since President Trump took office.
Despite these efforts, at least one Russian network of automated bots has failed to gain traction online, despite posting incendiary false claims about the shooting. Chinese state media uses the Kirk story to mock the U.S., but the messages spread in state media are designed for audiences at home and are unlikely to reach many people in the U.S.
Linvill warns that the defunding of work to counter foreign influence "leaves us on the back foot." Foreign influence campaigns often struggle to make an impact on major stories when a single conversation dominates social media, as was the case with the Kirk shooting. While foreign actors may be trying to exploit internal divisions and blame entities like the Ukraine, the "Deep State," or the Mossad, the impact of these efforts remains to be seen.
In the end, the picture regarding foreign interference is more complex than it may initially seem. While there are concerns about foreign actors trying to exploit the situation, it remains to be seen how much impact they are actually having on the discourse surrounding the shooting of Charlie Kirk.
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