In brief
- Identical “civil war” posts flooded X hours after Kirk’s killing, many from generic or low-engagement accounts.
- Past studies show botnets can generate billions of impressions; researchers warn AI tools make them harder to spot.
- Analysts see echoes of Russian and Chinese ops, but no confirmed attribution for this week’s spike in violent rhetoric.
In the hours after Charlie Kirk was assassinated at a Utah event on Wednesday, social media platforms—especially X—erupted with hostile rhetoric. Right-leaning posts quickly invoked “war,” “civil war,” and demands for retribution against liberals, Democrats, and “the left.”
Among these were aggregations of accounts with strikingly similar characteristics: generic bios, MAGA-style signifiers, “NO DMs” disclaimers, patriotic imagery, and stock or nondescript profile photographs.
These patterns have raised a growing suspicion: Are bot networks being used to amplify right-wing calls for civil war?
Thus far, no definitive external report or agency has confirmed a coordinated bot-driven campaign tied specifically to the event. But circumstantial evidence, historical precedent, and studies on the nature of inauthentic accounts on X suggest there is reason
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Author: Josh Quittner
