The Danger of Internet Radicalisation – Who is the Charlie Kirk Killer?

Image - Gage Skidmore

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No sooner than the death of right-wing commentator Charlie Kirk being announced, those on the political left and the right began scouring the internet for evidence to pin the blame of the assassination on the other side.

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Whilst the manhunt for the killer was underway, Trump announced that the “radical left” was “responsible for the terrorism that we’re seeing today”, something widely speculated due to Kirk’s role in spreading incendiary right wing rhetoric, which made him unpopular in left-wing circles.

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However, after the killer was alleged to be Tyler Robinson, a 22-year-old white American coming from a “Staunchly MAGA family”, some on the left were quick to shift the blame to the far right and label the assassination a “conservative on conservative” attack.

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In the following days, comments from former classmates and revealed conversations with Robinson’s partner Lance Twiggs, who is in the process of transitioning from male to female, have only furthered the debate surrounding Robinson’s motives, with both sides determined to attribute his actions to have been carried out in line with a wider political ideology.

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One thing that is clear about Robinson’s character is that he was active in online spaces and internet culture. Bullet casings found at the scene of the shooting were inscribed with messages such as “Hey fascist! Catch!”, a reference to a code to activate an attack in satirically fascist videogame Helldivers 2, whilst others were inscribed with “Oh bella ciao, bella ciao, bella ciao ciao ciao”, “notices, bulges, OWO, what’s this?”, and “if you read this, you are gay, LMAO”, all references to popular memes.

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Furthermore, Robinson is reported to have been active on social media sites such as 4chan and images have been released of him dressed as the “Pepe the frog” meme for Halloween.

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Robinson’s obsession with internet culture suggests that his beliefs did not align with the wider left or right wing in a traditional sense and was rather radicalised by extremist internet groups such as “Groypers”, whose name originates from an offshoot of the “Pepe the frog” meme, and who are associated with the use of the memes referenced in the bullet casings as a form of online trolling.

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Who are Groypers?

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Groypers are a Neo-Nazi online faction born out of 2010s meme culture, led by far right, white supremacist commentator, Nick Fuentes.

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Their ideology is incoherently gay/homophobic, anti-fascist/fascist, and Christian/ anti- Christian, all at once, in an attempt to confuse and troll people online.

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Whilst many far-right viewpoints are reoccurring such as white supremacy and misogyny, their main rhetoric is incoherent and incomprehensible, adopting progressive symbols and internet memes in order to confuse and “troll” their opponents: left wing groups and mainstream right-wing commentators alike.

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In this sense, they do not strictly have an ideology, labelling everyone as fascists and being obsessed with edgy internet humour, believing that nothing matters and that everything should be carried out in the name of chaos and humour.

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The group have long expressed hatred of Kirk with Fuentes labelling him a “fake conservative” for comments indicating him being pro-Israel, and agreeing to engage in debates with gay people. Kirk was one of the main targets of the 2019 “Groyper wars” in which members of the group attended events held by both right wing and left wing groups to heckle speakers with loaded and uncomfortable questions about immigration and the US relationship with Israel, referencing antisemitic dog whistles such as the “dancing Israelis” conspiracy theory. Through this, they hoped to expose the hypocrisy of so called “fake conservatives” and create material to use in memes and propaganda.

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Due to the group’s public feud with Kirk, speculators say the evidence of Robinson’s online activity indicates an affiliation with “Groypers” or a similar group. Whilst it is worth noting that they have been widely adopted in mainstream internet culture, the memes referenced on the bullet inscriptions are strongly associated with the Groypers. For example, the song Bella Ciao, referenced in the bullet inscriptions, was adopted as the anthem of the so called “Groyper wars”, contradicting its original anti-fascist message, as a strategy to confuse the group’s opponents. The song was found in playlists such as one named “Groyper Wars (America First)”. Furthermore, the image of Robinson dressed up as the “Pepe the frog” meme, has been seen as further evidence of his association with Groypers, due to it being used as the unofficial symbol of the group.

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Whilst Robinson’s beliefs remain unknown and his association with Groypers is unconfirmed, it is apparent that Robinson was very active in internet culture and it seems likely that he was radicalised through it. With the governor of Utah, Spencer Cox, saying social media is a “cancer” of society, responsible for every recent assassination, it appears that the motives behind the attack do not align with the mainstream beliefs of either the left or the right, and that extreme internet radicalisation was to blame for the attack.