Rep. Higgins Calls for Lifetime Ban on Social Media Users Mocking Charlie Kirk’s Assassination

Rep. Clay Higgins of Louisiana announced Thursday that he plans to push for permanent bans on social media users who celebrate or mock the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, who was fatally shot Wednesday while speaking at Utah Valley University, according to The Hill.

Higgins stated on X that he intends to leverage congressional authority and apply pressure on major tech platforms to enforce lifetime bans for anyone posting content that belittles or endorses the killing.

“I’m going to use Congressional authority and every influence with big tech platforms to mandate [an] immediate ban for life of every post or commenter that belittled the assassination of Charlie Kirk,” Higgins wrote. “If they ran their mouth with their … hatred celebrating the heinous murder of that beautiful young man who dedicated his whole life to delivering respectful conservative truth into the hearts of liberal enclave universities, armed only with a Bible and a microphone and a Constitution… those profiles must come down.”

Kirk, a prominent conservative voice, was killed while delivering remarks on a Utah college campus, sparking outrage among Republicans and conservative activists. Many have called on social media companies to act against users sharing celebratory or graphic content related to the incident.

Some critics argued that Kirk’s own rhetoric may have contributed to the attack.

“He was constantly pushing this sort of hate speech aimed at certain groups,” said Matthew Dowd, a political operative and former MSNBC contributor, on Wednesday. “And I always go back to: Hateful thoughts lead to hateful words, which then lead to hateful actions.” Dowd was dismissed from MSNBC on Thursday.

Most social media platforms maintain rules against direct threats but have eased broader content moderation in recent years. Earlier in 2025, Meta loosened some of its hate speech policies, including dropping certain protections for LGBTQ individuals. Its current approach now resembles X, which relies on community notes to provide context on potentially misleading or inflammatory posts.

Rep. Anna Paulina Luna of Florida urged X, Meta, and TikTok to remove videos of Kirk’s killing, stating that the footage retraumatizes the victim’s family.