Social media can serve a lot of good, but we are also seeing rapidly expanding evidence of its harmful effects on society, particularly in the spread of misinformation. And the shocking assassination of Charlie Kirk is the latest major event where social media has only sewn seeds of discord, extremism, and the spread of fake news.
One of the more bizarre instances is the flood of social media posts saying that top NFL stars are paying expenses for Kirk’s family in the wake of his death that has shaken the political and societal foundation of an already unsettled nation.
Throughout the past 48 hours, several of the NFL’s most visible and successful players have all been the subject of these fake news posts, trending to a variety of degrees. And the vast majority of them are originating from Facebook.
The most visible instance was Texas Governor Greg Abbott being duped by a post on X saying that Houston Texans quarterback C.J. Stroud wanted his team and the entire NFL to observe a moment of silence for Kirk. According to the Houston Chronicle, it originated from a Facebook page that specializes in sports misinformation. The NFL did ask the Green Bay Packers to hold a “moment of reflection” on Thursday Night Football the day after the killing, but any activities acknowledging the assassination will be up to the teams for the rest of Week 2.
Another Facebook post claiming that Minnesota Vikings star wide receiver Justin Jefferson was “pledging to cover all living and educational expenses for Kirk’s two young children” also went viral, racking up almost 300,000 reactions as of Saturday morning. The Vikings themselves confirmed that this was not true.
Screengrab via Facebook
And Stroud and Jefferson were far from alone. Facebook is littered with scores of posts that all say the same thing, linking star NFL players to either donations for the family of Charlie Kirk or asking the NFL for some kind of moment of silence. Jordan Love, Jalen Hurts, and Patrick Mahomes are examples of a few more. One post says that Josh Allen and Hailee Steinfeld will be godparents to Kirk’s children.
Screengrab via Facebook
It’s even spread to college football stars with an Ohio State fake news page blasting out a message to hundreds of thousands with Jeremiah Smith inserted. That particular Ohio State page, Buckeye Pride Forever, is flooded with misinformation stating that Buckeyes coach Ryan Day was physically present at a ceremony in Kirk’s honor.
In fact, you can Facebook search pretty much any famous football player – Travis Kelce, Lamar Jackson, Dak Prescott – and there are varying degrees of wild misinformation linking them to the tragic story of Charlie Kirk in some way. Making donations to the family, moments of silence, completely made up quotes, even saying that the players were at the same rally speaking with Kirk the moment he was shot and killed.
Collectively, these fake posts are being seen by millions of people on Facebook and across other social media platforms. And none of them are helpful in any way whatsoever. Facebook ended its fact-checking when Donald Trump was re-elected to the presidency over his protesting about political bias. As a result, the platform abandoned any commitment to combating the spread of misinformation. And now in the sports world, there are an uncountable number of pages dedicated to fake news that try to take advantage of real world headlines for clicks, regardless of how inconceivable and unrealistic their content is.
It’s difficult enough for society to have to process such a shocking, tragic, visible event such as the assassination of Charlie Kirk, no matter where anyone stands on political lines. To then be inundated and overwhelmed with such an avalanche of misinformation makes that ability to process exponentially more challenging.