Utah Governor Blasts ‘Evil’ Social Media After Charlie Kirk Killing

Utah Governor Spencer Cox blamed social-media companies for helping foment divisiveness that led to the killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, calling them “conflict entrepreneurs” that profit from political polarization.

Cox, who has called on Americans to deescalate the strife since Kirk was fatally shot at a Utah Valley University event last week, took aim at tech companies that he accused of getting Americans “to hate each other.”

“I can’t emphasize enough the damage that social media and the internet is doing to all of us,” Cox said Sunday in comments to NBC’s Meet the Press. “These companies — trillion-dollar market caps, the most powerful companies in the history of the world — have figured out how to hack our brains.” He didn’t name any specific platforms.

Kirk, 31, the executive director of Turning Point USA and an ally of President Donald Trump, was shot in the neck Sept. 10 while speaking at an outdoor student event. State prosecutors are expected to file formal charges Tuesday against suspected shooter Tyler Robinson, who was arrested after law enforcement received a tip from a family member.   

The shooting has inflamed partisan rhetoric and follows a series of politically tinged shootings in recent years. President Donald Trump, who credited Turning Point USA with helping him win reelection in 2024, blamed the killing on Kirk’s vilification by “the radical left.”

Cox said the alleged killer has “a leftist ideology” but spread blame more widely, after calling social media “a cancer” in the shooting’s aftermath.

“The conflict entrepreneurs are taking advantage of us,” he told NBC. “I believe that social media has played a direct role in every single assassination and assassination attempt that we have seen over the last five, six years. Cancer probably isn’t a strong enough word. It took us decades to realize how evil these algorithms are.”

US lawmakers have long deadlocked over attempts to regulate social media more tightly.

“You know, we’ve got social media companies that clearly are exploiting kids,” Senator Mark Kelly, a Democrat from Arizona, said on Meet the Press. “There’s more we can do about it. Certainly in the United States Senate we can.”

Awaiting Charges

Robinson, 22, was arrested on suspicion of murder and weapons offenses with state charges pending. The alleged shooter isn’t cooperating with authorities and hasn’t confessed to the killing, Cox said on ABC’s This Week.

“We’re interviewing all kinds of people, everyone that knows him, and trying to learn more about what that motive actually was,” he also told CNN’s State of the Union. 

More detailed evidence will be presented when charges are filed on Tuesday, said Cox, who has called for the death penalty for the shooter.

Cox’s calls for moderation have contrasted with finger-pointing by Trump and members of his administration after Kirk’s killing, though the Utah governor expressed understanding for the president’s stance. 

Trump is “very angry” about the killing of a personal friend, he said on several networks. “And I get that,” he told CNN.

Senator John Curtis, a Republican from Utah, said extremism is a risk on both sides of the political spectrum.

“I think you need to take the word ‘radical’ and remove right or left,” he told ABC. “And radical coming from any direction is not good, it’s not healthy, and it should be called out.”

Authorities said Friday a family member told investigators that Robinson had become more political in recent years. The relative recalled a dinner shortly before the shooting when Robinson mentioned Kirk’s planned appearance at the university and criticized him as “full of hate and spreading hate.”

News reports since Robinson’s arrest have also speculated he was deeply involved in gamer culture. On Friday, Cox said investigators discovered inscriptions engraved on bullet casings found with the shooter’s rifle, including one on an unfired casing that read: “Hey fascist! Catch!”