Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL) demanded on Wednesday that Elon Musk‘s X and other major social media platforms remove the graphic videos of Charlie Kirk’s assassination at a Utah university event.
“I am calling on [Musk], [Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg], and [TikTok] to remove the horrifying videos of Charlie Kirk’s murder,” Luna wrote on X, explaining that Kirk’s family should be given privacy.
“He has a family, young children, and no one should be forced to relive this tragedy online,” she added. “These are not the only graphic videos of horrifying murders circulating — at some point, social media begins to desensitize humanity. We must still value life. Please take them down.”
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Multiple videos circulated online in the aftermath of Kirk’s death, with each one filmed at varying distances. One close-up video showed the shot piercing Kirk’s neck, causing him to fall sideways. Another shows his team rushing to stop the bleeding, with a large amount of blood shown.
A fellow GOP lawmaker agreed with Luna’s opinion that the violent videos should be taken down.
“Thank you!!! I agree completely!” Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) commented underneath Luna’s post. “I NEVER want to see that again!! I hate that I saw it at all.”
Others disagreed over concerns of censoring free speech.
“Freedom of speech includes the content we don’t like or hate or bloody,” Lily Tang Williams, a Republican candidate for a New Hampshire congressional seat in 2026, said. “We must defend it no matter how bad it is. I have faced evil before growing up in Mao’s China. We need to show evil exists in America, so we know what we are fighting against.”
Meanwhile, conservative commentators Keith and Kevin Hodge, better known as the Hodgetwins, disagreed with Luna because “people need to see what Democrat terrorism looks like.”
As of Thursday morning, Musk has not responded to Luna’s call to action.
Kirk, a co-founder of Turning Point USA, died Wednesday afternoon after the shooting. He was visiting Utah Valley University to host a question-and-answer event on campus. The at-large gunman reportedly fired the shot when Kirk was asked about mass shootings.
The incident generated both mourning and outrage from the right-wing social media sphere, prompting Republicans and Democrats alike to send their regards to the victim’s family.
President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance expressed their grief in numerous messages. They were particularly impacted by the news, given their friendly relationship with Kirk.
Trump blamed the shooting on the Democratic Party’s rhetoric against conservatives, like Kirk.
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“For years, those on the radical left have compared wonderful Americans like Charlie to Nazis and the world’s worst mass murderers and criminals,” he said in a video message from the Oval Office. “This kind of rhetoric is directly responsible for the terrorism that we’re seeing in our country today, and it must stop right now.”
The manhunt for the suspect in connection with the fatal shooting remains ongoing.