{"id":1178,"date":"2025-09-13T01:12:22","date_gmt":"2025-09-12T21:12:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.actutech.app\/discord-is-distancing-itself-from-the-charlie-kirk-shooting-suspect\/"},"modified":"2025-09-13T01:12:22","modified_gmt":"2025-09-12T21:12:22","slug":"discord-is-distancing-itself-from-the-charlie-kirk-shooting-suspect","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.actutech.app\/en\/discord-is-distancing-itself-from-the-charlie-kirk-shooting-suspect\/","title":{"rendered":"Discord is distancing itself from the Charlie Kirk shooting suspect"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

\"A

\n\t\t<\/figcaption><\/p><\/figure>\n

Discord denies that the suspect accused of killing Charlie Kirk used the messaging platform to discuss his crime, following the service getting mentioned by law enforcement in a press conference \u2014\u00a0and after accusations that it helped radicalize the alleged shooter, Tyler Robinson. In a statement to The Verge<\/em>, Jud Hoffman, Discord\u2019s vice president of trust and safety, said the company has \u201cfound no evidence that the suspect planned this incident or promoted violence on Discord.\u201d<\/p>\n

During a press briefing on Friday, Utah Gov. Spencer Cox said investigators spoke with Robinson\u2019s roommate, and that the roommate \u201cstated that his roommate, referring to Robinson, made a joke on Discord.\u201d Investigators then asked to see the Discord messages and proceeded \u201cto take photos of the screen as each message was shown,\u201d Cox said. Cox added that the photos \u201cconsisted of various messages, including content of messages between the phone contact named Tyler with an emoji icon.\u201d Some of the messages captured by authorities contained references to \u201chaving left the rifle wrapped in a towel\u201d and \u201cengraving bullets,\u201d according to Cox.\u00a0<\/p>\n

While Cox\u2019s statement makes it sound like the roommate reported Robinson had, using Discord, made a joke, Discord\u2019s spokesperson says it actually means the roommate<\/em> had been chatting on Discord with a third party and discussed Robinson making comments somewhere else.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe messages referenced in recent reporting about planning details do not appear to be Discord messages,\u201d Hoffman said. \u201cThese were communications between the suspect\u2019s roommate and a friend after the shooting, where the roommate was recounting the contents of a note the suspect had left elsewhere.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a fine distinction, but one that helps Discord downplay any involvement in the killing. The popular platform has been used by multiple mass shooters<\/a> in past years to discuss violent and hateful rhetoric, and in one case to offer details about the attack itself<\/a>. That\u2019s earned it scrutiny from figures including New York Attorney General Letitia James, whose office probed whether it and streaming service Twitch<\/a> contributed to violence.<\/p>\n

Since Kirk\u2019s shooting, Discord has also become a target of right-wing influencers like Andy Ngo<\/a>, who claim some \u201cyoung high-profile shooters\u201d are \u201cradicalized and groomed\u201d on the platform. Conservative influencer Laura Loomer similarly linked<\/a> the suspect\u2019s alleged use of Discord to the man who attempted to assassinate Donald Trump, saying it\u2019s \u201cthe same platform the Butler assassin was communicating with people in.\u201d On Friday, Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL) urged the FBI<\/a> to look into \u201cradicalization networks,\u201d claiming that online platforms like Discord \u201care being exploited by extremists for recruitment and radicalization.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hoffman told The Verge<\/em> that Discord has since removed Robinson\u2019s account for violating its off-platform behavior policy. \u201cWe strongly condemn violence of any kind, including political violence, and we will continue to coordinate closely with law enforcement,\u201d Hoffman said.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Discord denies that the suspect accused of killing Charlie Kirk used the messaging platform to discuss his crime, following the […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1178","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-non-classe"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.actutech.app\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1178","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.actutech.app\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.actutech.app\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.actutech.app\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.actutech.app\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1178"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.actutech.app\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1178\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.actutech.app\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1178"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.actutech.app\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1178"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.actutech.app\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1178"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}