Charlie Kirk assassination reignites debate over Section 230 protections for social media companies

The assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk last week has reignited the political debate over reforming a federal law that shields social media companies from liability over the content they post.

Videos of Kirk's assassination spread rapidly across social media following the shooting on the campus of Utah Valley University that took the 31-year-old Turning Point USA founder's life last week. That created an immense challenge for social media platforms to remove the video or implement content warnings or age gating to protect users from being exposed to it in their feeds.

The circulation of Kirk's assassination video on social media prompted renewed calls from lawmakers to address a federal law known as Section 230 that provides liability protections for social medi