Both the story and the «trend» itself on TikTok are made up.
Citing the United24 story, propagandists report that a new trend mocking the murder of Charlie Kirk, an American far-right activist, has allegedly emerged in the Ukrainian segment of TikTok.
«A young man, father of two, was killed,» the Russians write, accusing Ukrainians of bloodthirstiness. These same Russians tirelessly rejoice at missile strikes on Ukrainian residential buildings and civilian casualties among the population.
Yet in reality, United24 never published such a video — it can not be found neither on its official social networks pages nor the website. Moreover, what gives away the fake is that the video contains graphic footage of Kirk’s murder: it is unlikely that the media would share such footage. Additionally, United24’s goal is to encourage as many foreigners as possible to support Ukraine, and such content would clearly achieve the exact opposite.
We also failed to find any evidence of such a «trend» spreading among Ukrainian users on TikTok. Videos in Ukrainian mostly cover Kirk’s murder in a neutral informational way.
Charlie Kirk has indeed repeatedly expressed anti-Ukrainian views. He stated that sending weapons to Kyiv is «not our fight» and only prolongs the conflict, which, in his opinion, Ukraine «cannot win.» Kirk called Crimea a territory that «has always been part of Russia» and «cannot return to Ukraine.» The activist also accused President Volodymyr Zelensky of disrupting possible peace agreements and even called him a «puppet of the intelligence services.»
Previously, propagandists had already looked for a Ukrainian trace in other high-profile political attacks – we refuted such fakes in the stories Fake: The Wife of Fico’s Shooter Turned Out to be a Ukrainian Refugee Setting Her Husband Up for Revenge and Fake: Trump’s Shooter Supported Ukraine As Evidenced By His Social Media.
