Tyler Robinson, apprehended last night in connection to the fatal shooting of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, allegedly left engraved bullets at the crime scene that were covered in a furry meme, a reference from the video game Helldivers 2, and an extremely online taunt. In an FBI briefing this morning about his arrest, Utah Gov. […]
In the wake of right-wing activist Charlie Kirk’s fatal shooting, some political figures are threatening a crackdown on free speech – a cause Kirk claimed to fight for. Members of Congress, the State Department, and President Donald Trump have all attacked people who celebrated Kirk’s death online or criticized him while he was alive, in […]
Earlier today, the FBI shared two blurry photos on X of a person of interest in the shooting of right-wing activist Charlie Kirk. Numerous users replied with AI-upscaled, “enhanced” versions of the pictures almost immediately, turning the pixelated surveillance shots into sharp, high-resolution images. But AI tools aren’t uncovering secret details in a fuzzy picture, […]
Minutes after news that right-wing influencer Charlie Kirk had been shot at a planned campus event at Utah Valley University, the wheels of social media engagement farming and clout chasing had already begun to grind to life. Kirk, despite being in his 30s, was a mainstay on college campuses around the country, where student groups […]
Within minutes of the news that right-wing youth activist Charlie Kirk had been shot on a college campus in Utah, the first accusations began to fly across MAGA social media: someone on the left must have been responsible for this. Within hours of the confirmation of his death, rage began pouring out. “Congratulations. You have […]
Charlie Kirk, the influencer and activist who co-founded right-wing group Turning Point USA, was shot while speaking at an event on Wednesday at Utah Valley University at about 12:20PM local time. According to media reports, he appeared to have been hit in the neck. A spokesperson for the university, Ellen Treanor, said in a statement […]
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A new group of whistleblowers are coming forward to allege that Meta is restricting research into how its virtual reality offerings could negatively impact kids and teens, The Washington Post reports. Four current and former Meta staffers allege that after an earlier whistleblower, Frances Haugen, leaked internal research to Congress, the company called on its […]
If you wanted a sense of the current relationship between the tech right and the populists, you had to be sitting in Breakout Room C on the first day of NatCon 5, the annual gathering of the MAGA right’s powerhouses. At the end of the afternoon panel on the culture wars (“The Need for Heroism”), […]
The European Commission has waged a €2.95 billion (~$3.5 billion) fine against Google for “abusing its dominant position” in advertising technology. In its announcement, the Commission claims that Google’s alleged anticompetitive practices have increased costs for advertisers and publishers, potentially raising prices for consumers as a result. The Commission has ordered Google to come up […]