The three Greatest Sorts of Charlie Kirk Conspiracy Theories Flooding the Web

Conspiracy theories concerning the loss of life of Charlie Kirk have inundated X, TikTok, and Instagram in latest days. And whereas crackpot concepts have at all times adopted main world occasions, there’s no denying that they’re rather more widespread and widespread within the age of social media.

Kirk, a 31-year-old right-wing influencer, was shot and killed Sept. 10 whereas talking at Utah Valley College in Orem, Utah. The graphic killing was captured on video from a number of angles since many individuals within the viewers have been filming his dialogue, rapidly importing footage within the fast aftermath.

The suspect within the killing, 22-year-old Tyler Robinson, turned himself in to authorities late Thursday evening native time, based on CNN. However the web has been flooded with conspiracy theories about Kirk’s loss of life, each earlier than and after Robinson’s arrest.

FBI Director Kash Patel appeared on Fox & Pals on Monday morning, the place he made varied claims concerning the capturing that haven’t been formally introduced to a court docket but, a lot much less confirmed. But when the broader image that’s rising is true—that one man acted alone by firing a rifle from a rooftop—most of the conspiracy theories which have popped up are completely ridiculous.

Under, we’ve received among the commonest classes of conspiracy theories circulating on social media proper now.

‘AI Incorrect Man’ theories

After the capturing, the FBI launched photos of the suspect displaying him in sun shades. The screenshots have been pixelated and low high quality, which led folks on X to run them via Grok in an effort to get a greater look. The issue is that working photos via AI that makes an attempt to upscale them doesn’t offer you a greater or extra correct picture.

Laura Loomer, a far-right influencer with shut ties to the White Home, shared three images after screenshots of the suspect have been first launched by the FBI. One of many three photos was the unique screenshot. Two others have been pretend AI-enhanced photos, giving her followers the impression that they have been authentic footage of the person.

Does anybody know who this man is?

He has been labeled an individual of curiosity within the assassination of Charlie Kirk. @FBI is on the lookout for him. https://t.co/7AUwzYwAnO pic.twitter.com/HyWTk1HHxf

— Laura Loomer (@LauraLoomer) September 11, 2025

We checked out this drawback earlier this month when folks on social media have been working Donald Trump’s images via AI. The upscaler gave Trump a gigantic lump on his brow, main folks to insist he had a severe medical situation. However that’s simply what AI does to low-quality photos. It would take shadows or creases in an individual’s face and deform a picture whereas trying to make it look clearer.

We noticed one thing related occur in the course of the Academy Awards in 2022 when Will Smith slapped Chris Rock. The screenshots that individuals have been taking from TV after which blowing up appeared pixelated. To repair that, folks ran them via upscalers, and it created what regarded like a bizarre prosthetic on Rock’s face. From there, a conspiracy concept emerged that there was a pad defending Rock’s face, main folks to insist the entire thing had been deliberate prematurely.

That is how conspiracy theories take off now, and so they’re extremely predictable. In actual fact, when Gizmodo noticed of us on X working photos of the suspect in Kirk’s capturing via Grok, we knew folks would inevitably evaluate these pretend photos to the true mugshot. And positive sufficient, that’s precisely what’s occurred.

A TikTok account known as Politic Nick posted a video Saturday evaluating an AI-manipulated picture of the suspect to the mugshot that was launched.

“Okay, these are two completely different folks right here,” the creator stated. “The mouth is completely different, the chin is completely different. The face is formed completely different. The nostril is sharp on the left. His nostril is sharp. His lips are completely different I imply, come on.”

That video has racked up 1.4 million views and it’s an extremely well-liked sentiment on different platforms like X, the place high-profile accounts like Jackson Hinkle and Anastasia Maria Loupis have targeted on the mouths in each photos. “They assume you might be silly,” Loupis tweeted.

They assume you might be silly. pic.twitter.com/gWShG0vMqp

— Dr. Anastasia Maria Loupis (@DrLoupis__) September 14, 2025

However the cause they appear completely different is that the AI “enhanced” picture didn’t current anybody with a extra correct impression of what the suspect regarded like. These instruments are usually not magic and might’t offer you a greater thought of his look. All the pc did was extrapolate from the data that was there. And it looks as if all of the individuals who’ve grown up on TV reveals the place investigators can “zoom and improve” assume that’s the way it works in actual life.

‘Simply Look More durable’ theories

One other large bucket of conspiracy theories may finest be described as “Simply Look More durable” theories. The thought is that should you stare at somebody within the background of a video from Kirk’s discuss, you’ll uncover a conspiracy hiding in plain sight.

This was a standard tactic on X as tens of millions of individuals have been watching the extraordinarily graphic movies of Kirk dying throughout all the most important platforms. Within the hours after Kirk was shot, a preferred concept emerged that somebody standing to Kirk’s proper was giving “indicators” to some unseen shooter.

There have been clearly no indicators, as anybody might see. However the energy of suggestion, mixed with watching the identical horrific occasions performed again and again, satisfied lots of people that completely regular conduct (one man simply had a cellphone in his hand) was by some means suspicious.

One of the outlandish claims nonetheless circulating on social media is targeted on a person who was standing close to Kirk throughout his discuss on campus. Val Venis, a former WWE wrestler who glided by the identify Massive Valbowski, has helped share the speculation that the unnamed man used one thing known as a “palm gun” that was hid in his fist as he moved his shirt sleeve to kill Kirk.

The declare is absurd, and it seems that on-line dipshits have solely gravitated to the thought as a result of the person within the video scratches his arm on the identical time that Kirk was shot. That’s critically all it was, as you’ll be able to see within the censored clip we’ve received beneath. There’s no proof that this man was doing something however touching his personal arm.

One video shared by Venis has over 17 million views on X on the time of this writing. Others from Venis sharing edits of the identical incident have a number of million extra. And there’s so clearly nothing there past an individual touching their very own arm and shifting their shirt just a little bit.

‘The whole lot is Trans’ theories

One other bucket of conspiracy theories across the loss of life of Charlie Kirk contains the concept the killing should’ve been perpetrated by somebody who’s trans. The false concept that trans persons are disproportionately represented as killers appears to have roots in a 2023 faculty capturing in Nashville, Tennessee, that killed seven folks, together with the shooter. The perpetrator in that case was certainly trans, and now X is flooded with claims {that a} shooter should be trans every time a brand new mass capturing makes the information. As Politifact notes, trans persons are more likely to be the victims of violence moderately than perpetrators.

After Kirk was killed, a minimum of three completely different trans folks have been falsely blamed for the capturing on X, by Gizmodo’s depend. Posts went viral with wild claims about varied individuals who had completely nothing to do with Kirk’s loss of life.

After it turned clear that the suspect on this case was a cisgender man, the web mobs tried to seek out different trans connections wherever they may. The Wall Avenue Journal initially reported  reported Thursday that the bullet casings discovered on the scene have been not directly “expressing transgender and anti-fascist ideology,” citing a bulletin from the ATF. And whereas the newspaper edited the article later in the day to say that such a declare must be handled “with warning,” the injury was performed. It turned on the market was nothing on the bullet casings that talked about the trans neighborhood.

It turned so ridiculous that The Onion even wrote an article joking about how the suspect as soon as had an Uber driver who was trans. However right-wing political operatives on-line are nonetheless obsessive about the concept trans persons are uniquely harmful. FBI Director Kash Patel was requested whether or not Robinson’s roommate was trans and in a relationship with Robinson. Patel, who has a historical past of spreading conspiracy theories about QAnon and the January sixth riot, stated that was true with out offering any proof.

A lot of unexplained questions stay

It’s straightforward to grasp why conspiracy theories proliferate. Every time a case unfolds, there are completely cheap questions on information that is probably not recognized.

Numerous questions stay a few motive for Kirk’s capturing and the potential political affiliation of the suspect. And it appears assured that misinformation and disinformation will proceed to run rampant on social media as we study extra. Sadly, guys like Kash Patel are usually not serving to the state of affairs as they rush to put up on X earlier than all of the information are actually recognized.

Patel wrote on the day Kirk was killed that, “The topic for the horrific capturing at the moment that took the lifetime of Charlie Kirk is now in custody.” However that was untimely. The individual that they had in custody was simply an attendee there to listen to Kirk converse. And whereas it’s fully regular for shitposters to unfold misinformation far and vast earlier than the information are recognized, we now stay in a world the place that shitposter occurs to be the director of the FBI.