Recent years have seen growing recognition that foreign states exploit social and political crises in Western democracies to advance influence operations and exacerbate domestic polarization. A high-profile event such as the assassination of Charlie Kirk may have provided a key opportunity for state-affiliated outlets to produce and spread disinformation campaigns.

Polarization is rising in both Canada and the United States. People are becoming increasingly resentful of people they disagree with politically, a phenomenon known as affective polarization. At the same time, acts of political violence have been on the rise in the United States, leading to concerns this trend could spill over to Canada.

The assassination of U.S. political commentator Charlie Kirk sparked widespread discussion and elicited polarized reactions worldwide, raising questions about the nature of the information Canadians were exposed to and how such information affected public understanding and social cohesion.

In this update, we aim to explore how polarized the conversation was following Kirk’s death by identifying the most popular claims made following his assassination and evaluating the extent these claims were agreed with (supported), disagreed with (refuted) or its themes discussed (other).

The assassination of Charlie Kirk triggered a vast social media discussion both in the United States and internationally. As the U.S.’s polarized context appears to increasingly shape political debates abroad, this event provides a window into how online conversations unfold after instances of political violence, shedding light on both the transformation of existing tensions and the emergence of new ones.

Charlie Kirk’s assassination, an act of political violence, intensified national debate about polarization and free speech. We examine public attitudes towards political violence, assessing whether the incident and ensuing debates are perceived by Canadians as a shared concern or a uniquely American issue.

We evaluate how the death of Charlie Kirk, a prominent right-wing American commentator, has provoked widespread online debate. Controversy around the legacy of Kirk has sparked discussion around the increasing partisan divide, ideological polarization, and threats of political violence. That has spilled over into the Canadian information landscape.

With high confidence, it appears that though the Kremlin has exploited Kirk’s death as part of its information warfare strategy, employing tactics outlined in the FBI’s Doppelgänger affidavit.

The assassination of Charlie Kirk has been followed by a massive amount of polarized online discussions in the Canadian information ecosystem, fuelling disinformation, partisan conflict, and mobilization exposing the risk of targeted and/or large scale unrest and physical harm.