Kirk's killing during a speaking event in Utah last week unleashed a wave of negative commentary about the activist online, ranging from criticism of his conservative views to morbid celebrations of his death. Graphic footage of Kirk's murder also ricocheted across platforms, exposing millions of people to gory images of his final moments. In the hours after the killing, Republican House Representative Anna Paulina Luna urged Meta, X and TikTok to take down videos of Kirk's death, warning that at some point, social media begins to desensitise humanity.
Too many people use the word 'but' in relation to what happened overnight. "It's extraordinarily easy to condemn violent acts against somebody with whom you share their views. "It is much more important that we are consistent in terms of calling it out when it's against somebody whose work, whose views differ to us."
A teenager who listed Hitler, Mussolini and the Norwegian mass murderer Anders Breivik as his inspirations and who planned a terrorist attack on a mosque has been sentenced to 10 years in custody. The 17-year-old, who cannot be named because of his age, had intended to set fire to an Islamic centre in Greenock, Inverclyde, after befriending the imam and mapping out the building's interior on his phone.