Now months after the September 10 assassination of conservative activist and Turning Point USA co-founder Charlie Kirk, there’s been a sort of paradigm shift among employers emboldened to snoop on their employees’ social media activity and discipline or fire them, according to a Washington Post story by corporate culture reporter Taylor Telford.
As Telford put it:
“Workers are increasingly being disciplined over posts on social or political issues that companies may view as a source of reputational risk, employment experts say, as companies tighten policies and step up surveillance of online activity.”
A human resources expert named Jim Link explained to Telford that the response from right-wing groups furious about people’s nasty Charlie Kirk posts has given way to aggressive policing behavior from bosses, and a free speech activist named Adam Goldstein of the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression claimed that once upon a time, “the risk of your employee saying something completely nonwork-related becoming a problem for the business were just lower.”
“Now there’s more tension around the fear of how the public will react,” Goldstein told the Post.
In the immediate aftermath of the shocking and gruesome firearm killing of Kirk—who was a divisive figure, but also a human being struck down in front of his family, and, thanks to social media, the world—his political allies made no bones about the fact that they wanted the scalps of those who celebrated or posted cruel words online.
“When you see someone celebrating Charlie’s murder, call them out. And hell, call their employer,” said Vice President J.D. Vance on September 15.
Charlie Kirk’s death will not be in vain.
I will be spending my night making everyone I find online who celebrates his death Famous, so prepare to have your whole future professional aspirations ruined if you are sick enough to celebrate his death.
I’m going to make you wish…
— Laura Loomer (@LauraLoomer) September 10, 2025
In the weeks that followed, people started losing their jobs. According to a story at the time, also from The Washington Post, Office Depot, Nasdaq, The U.S. Secret Service, and no less than 27 other employers were known to have “sanctioned or fired employees in reaction to their statements about Kirk’s killing.”
Reuters noted last month in a story that more than 600 people lost their jobs due to posts about Kirk:
“Some were dismissed after celebrating or mocking Kirk’s death. At least 15 people were punished for allegedly invoking ‘karma’ or ‘divine justice,’ and at least nine others were disciplined for variations on ‘Good riddance.’ Other offending posts appeared to exult in the killing or express hope that other Republican figures would be next. ‘One down, plenty to go,’ one said.”
According to the Center for American Progress, between Trump’s inauguration and September, the month of Kirk’s assassination, the unemployment rate rate had increased by 0.4 percentage points to 4.4 percent, the highest it had been since September 2021, when the wave of pandemic-era layoffs eased. The Federal Reserve says unemployment is likely to stay at elevated levels in 2026.
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