Graphic videos of Kirk and Zarutska deaths reignite debate over social media moderation
Charlie Kirk speaks before he is shot during Turning Point's visit to Utah Valley University in Orem
By Hadas Gold, CNN
(CNN) — Within minutes of Charlie Kirk’s horrific shooting on Wednesday in Utah, video capturing the moment a bullet hit his body was spreading rapidly online.
Surveillance cameras were rolling when Iryna Zarutska was brutally stabbed on a train in North Carolina on August 22, and the gruesome full video was later released publicly.
Whether users wanted to see them or not, videos of horrific moments have been flooding social media feeds over the past week. These videos have reignited calls for tech giants to exert more control over how content appears on their platforms as some companies have scaled back their moderation efforts.
Each platform has its own content rules, especially around particularly violent content. Most allow some violent content but place restrictions on especially gory and bloody videos and restrict such content from younger users.
By default, social media sites like X, TikTok and Facebook autoplay videos as users scroll, a tactic to immediately grab their attention, unless the platform has designated them as restricted. YouTube also autoplays non-restricted content when users hover over the video while scrolling.
But that can result in users being exposed to very sensitive and sometimes graphic content.
Even this morning, videos of Kirk’s shooting were still being pushed to users’ feeds. Graphic videos of the moment Kirk was shot were some of the top results when CNN searched for “Charlie Kirk” on Instagram. On TikTok’s search page, with no prompting, the app suggested the search terms “raw video footage” and “actual incident footage,” which immediately linked to graphic videos.
TikTok told CNN that it was removing those search terms and that it had been removing close-up videos of Kirk’s shooting since yesterday, although it is still possible to easily find such videos, some with graphic content warnings. (TikTok said it was continuously removing such videos.)
“These horrific violent acts have no place in our society. We remain committed to proactively enforcing our Community Guidelines and have implemented additional safeguards to prevent people from unexpectedly viewing footage that violates our rules.” TikTok spokesperson Jamie Favazza said in a statement.
Not all videos of the shooting will be removed. TikTok’s policies do not allow “gory, gruesome, disturbing, or extremely violent content,” but some footage — for example, from a distance — may still be viewable on the platform.
Meta said it is applying a “Mark as Sensitive” warning label to footage of the shooting and is removing content that glorifies, represents, or supports the incident or the perpetrator. It also claimed it’s restricting such videos to adult accounts.
YouTube said it is removing some graphic videos of the shooting, including those that lack context.
“We are closely monitoring our platform and prominently elevating news content on the homepage, in search and in recommendations to help people stay informed,” a YouTube spokesperson told CNN.
Representatives for X did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Some online safety activists say existing measures aren’t enough or are failing. Katie Paul, director of the Tech Transparency Project, which advocates for greater safety measures for young people online, said videos of Kirk’s shooting are easily accessible for young people, even in some cases with teen settings and safety precautions turned on.
A teen Instagram account set up as a test by the Tech Transparency Project was easily able to access videos of Kirk’s shooting, Paul told CNN. An Instagram account with the teen settings turned on should restrict the type of content a young user is able to see.
“The fact that Charlie Kirk was so popular among young people it’s obvious that young people including teens would be searching for him,” Paul said. “On Meta’s teen safety accounts, when you search just the name Charlie Kirk, the very first video that comes up is an autoplay video of him being shot – it’s incredibly problematic.”
In response to the Tech Transparency Project’s claim, a Meta spokesperson said in part: “There can be a lag at times in applying those warning screens when individuals upload slightly different versions of known videos, and it appears that’s what happened here, but the issue is unrelated to Teen Accounts.”
Mainstream media, like CNN, usually implement strict standards that prevent airing or showing such graphic moments on TV or on their other platforms. These outlets will often edit videos and use other techniques, like blurring, to protect viewers and the victims. But on social media, where more than half of US adults say they get at least some of their news, there are no broad standards everyone follows.
Medical experts warn that being exposed to traumatic and graphic moments can cause “vicarious trauma,” where one absorbs the trauma experienced by others, which can directly impact people’s mental and physical health.
The-CNN-Wire
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