Minutes after the shooting of the right-wing influencer Charlie Kirk in Utah on Wednesday, calls for civil war began appearing online.
The term “civil war” was mentioned on Wednesday more than 129,000 times on the social platform X, according to an analysis by The New York Times. On Thursday, it was mentioned at least 210,000 times. That was up from a daily average of around 18,000 in previous months. Many of the posts that included the phrase were reposted on other platforms, including Truth Social, TikTok and Instagram.
The talk of civil war came largely from Republican lawmakers, right-wing media personalities and conservative podcasters, according to a review by The Times. Some questioned whether America was already engaged in a civil war over its values, while others called for violence after Mr. Kirk’s death.
Among those who used the phrase were Alex Jones, the creator of Infowars, a right-wing media platform; Chaya Raichik, who is behind the prominent LibsofTikTok social media account, which frequently attacks the L.G.B.T.Q. community; and Andrew Tate, the right-wing influencer known for his misogynistic views.
“Civil war,” Mr. Tate wrote in a two-word post on X after Mr. Kirk was shot. It has been viewed more than 16 million times.
The surging use of the term highlights the divisions among Americans and continues a familiar pattern of inflammatory language. In recent years, civil war has been increasingly mentioned on social media after major political moments in the United States, especially those that involve President Trump, according to a Times analysis of data from Tweet Binder by Audiense, a social media analytics company.
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