It didn’t take lengthy after regulation enforcement officers publicly recognized a suspect in the Charlie Kirk assassination for individuals on-line to start combing the web on the lookout for his digital footprint. One of many profiles they discovered seemed to be his Steam account which, according to Bloomberg, is now being investigated by the Secret Service.
That’s as a result of 22-year-old Tyler Robinson, who was charged earlier this week with murdering Kirk at a talking occasion final week, reportedly used Donald Trump’s identify as an alias on the Valve-owned gaming storefront at one level. Sources instructed Bloomberg the reference to the president is what led to the Secret Service’s involvement regardless of the Homeland Safety company having no position in defending Kirk on the time of the assassination.
The Steam account many consider to belong to Robinson reveals hundreds of hours spent enjoying video games like Sea of Thieves, Deep Rock Galactic, and Counter-Strike. The handful of public Steam evaluations he seemingly authored have been vague from the hundreds of others posted for these video games. Folks have additionally been combing by means of his obvious Steam stock, which incorporates hats, buying and selling playing cards, and different unlockables.
Steam is amongst these gaming-affiliated web platforms which have been called to Congress subsequent month to testify about on-line radicalization. The CEOs from Twitch, Discord, and Reddit have additionally been requested to take part. Regardless of a reference to Helldivers 2 showing on one of many casings left behind close to the crime scene, there’s been little publicly disclosed proof to date that gaming, memes, or every other a part of the trendy web performed a lot of a job in driving Robinson to allegedly assassinate the fitting wing podcaster.
“The politically motivated assassination of Charlie Kirk claimed the life of a husband, father, and American patriot. In the wake of this tragedy, and amid other acts of politically motivated violence, Congress has a duty to oversee the online platforms that radicals have used to advance political violence,” Home Oversight and Authorities Reform Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) announced on Wednesday.
However leaked Discord chats and interviews with buddies have to date supplied little that might counsel Robinson’s historical past with gaming and the web have been uniquely worrying, or completely different from these of most different individuals his age.
