Rep. Clay Higgins, R-La., said Thursday he will push to bar social media users for life if they celebrate the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, who was fatally shot Wednesday while speaking at Utah Valley University, The Hill reported.
Higgins posted on X that he intends to use congressional authority and pressure major tech platforms to enforce permanent bans against those who mocked or endorsed 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,” he added.
Kirk, a prominent conservative figure, was killed while delivering remarks on a Utah college campus. The assassination sparked outrage among Republicans and conservative activists, with many calling on social media companies to act against users posting celebratory or graphic content.
Some critics of Kirk suggested his rhetoric contributed to the attack.
“He was constantly pushing this sort of hate speech aimed at certain groups,” Matthew Dowd, a political operative and MSNBC contributor, said Wednesday. “And I always go back to: Hateful thoughts lead to hateful words, which then lead to hateful actions.”
Dowd was fired from the network on Thursday.
Most platforms maintain rules against direct threats, but have scaled back broader content moderation in recent years. Earlier this year, Meta loosened its hate speech policies, including dropping some protections for LGBTQ people. Its approach now mirrors Elon Musk’s X, which relies on community notes for context on misleading or inflammatory posts.
Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., urged X, Meta, and TikTok to remove videos of Kirk’s killing, saying the videos retraumatize the victim’s family.
“He has a family, young children, and no one should be forced to relive this tragedy online,” Luna posted on X.
Higgins indicated he will go further than lifetime bans, vowing to target the businesses and licenses of those who celebrated Kirk’s death.
“I’m also going after their business licenses and permitting; their businesses will be blacklisted aggressively, they should be kicked from every school, and their driver’s licenses should be revoked,” Higgins said.
He concluded with a warning: “I’m basically going to cancel with extreme prejudice these evil, sick animals who celebrated Charlie Kirk’s assassination. I’m starting that today. That is all.”?
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