“The more confusion and mistrust they can inject right after a breaking news event, the harder it becomes for people to know what’s true and who to trust,” Sadeghi said. “If people doubt law enforcement, journalists or democratic institutions, it weakens those institutions’ ability to act and communicate in a crisis.”
According to NewsGuard, pro-Kremlin groups on messaging app Telegram falsely claimed that Kirk had been added to the Myrotvorets list, a Ukrainian database of pro-Russia voices, before his death. The false claim was recited by a Russian-linked propaganda outlet and repeated by Google’s AI-generated news summary.
The Russian influence operation known as Storm-1679 also shared a video on social media spoofing Ukrainian government-run platform United24, falsely suggesting that Ukrainians widely celebrated Kirk’s killing, according to NewsGuard.
Iran-linked groups also amplified false narratives related to Kirk’s killing, accusing Israel of orchestrating the shooting in retaliation for his opposition to the U.S. military strike on Iran in June. State news agency IRNA also shared conspiracy theories related to Kirk’s criticism of Israel.
In addition, NewsGuard identified incidents of foreign disinformation on social platform X, where pro-China accounts falsely claimed that the suspected shooter donated to President Donald Trump’s campaign in 2020.
Security analysts at the Center for Internet Security and the Institute for Strategic Dialogue also reportedly found a large number of posts spreading false information about Kirk’s death from Russian-linked groups.
“Overall, Russian, Iranian and Chinese state media have generally seized on the assassination of Kirk to advance their own geopolitical interests,” Sadeghi told POLITICO.
Concerns about the spread of disinformation online — particularly by hostile adversaries — were raised soon after Kirk’s death was confirmed last week.
Utah Gov. Spencer Cox (R) warned during a press conference on Sept. 12 that there was a “tremendous amount of disinformation” being shared online and that foreign adversaries were eager to aggravate tensions.
“We have bots from Russia, China, all over the world that are trying to instill disinformation and encourage violence,” Cox said.
The suspect in Charlie Kirk’s killing has been identified by law enforcement as 22-year-old Utah resident Tyler Robinson, who could get the death penalty if convicted on charges that include murder.
Foreign adversaries have long capitalized on high-profile news events — such as the 2023 Hawaii wildfires and pro-Palestinian protests across U.S. college campuses — to exploit political fractures in the U.S.
“It’s much easier to influence and shape debate around something that’s already happened than to start from scratch,” said Daniel Byman, director of the Warfare, Irregular Threats, and Terrorism Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. He added that “naturally divisive moments” allow for foreign groups to inflame political tensions.
POLITICO reported last month that pro-Kremlin group Storm-1679 has been behind several operations to spread false claims around major global elections, including the 2024 U.S. presidential election and the upcoming Moldovan parliamentary elections. A massive Chinese influence operation also posed online as U.S. voters and American soldiers to encourage social division ahead of the 2024 U.S. election.
“Internal conflict and the intense political polarization in the U.S. have been nothing but good for our adversaries,” said Joshua McKenty, chief executive officer of Polyguard, a firm designed to identify and combat deepfakes online.