TikTok accounts are churning out made-up clickbait videos about Charlie Kirk’s assassination in the hope of capitalizing on surging search interest in the American right-wing leader.
Breaking news and violent events always generate misinformation. But the ubiquitous footage of Kirk’s killing and the wide availability of AI tools seem to have made this particularly true in the past few days.
TikTok’s economic incentives favor generating misinformation for a US audience. And so, late last week, accounts that Indicator tracks for pushing Spanish-language misinformation, motivational AI slop, and celebrity-themed scams quickly pivoted to publishing hoaxes about Kirk’s death.
The tactic appears to be working, as 53 videos with fabricated claims about Kirk reached 31.9 million views over three days. If all 53 videos were monetized and targeted an American audience, TikTok may have payed out as much as $12,700 to their creators.
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