Trump Shares TikTok of Supporter Calling for Outlawing News Organizations ‘Lying’ After Charlie Kirk Assassination
AP Photo/Phelan M. Ebenhack, File
President Donald Trump on Saturday afternoon shared a TikTok video that implored him to revive legislation that would make it “damn near impossible” for news organizations to “lie to the American public” following the shooting of conservative media star Charlie Kirk.
The woman in the TikTok video, who uses the handle @official_elly_may, called on the president to fully restore the Smith-Mundt Act of 1948. The legislation, the woman said in her video, “held news corporations accountable for lying to the American people and spreading propaganda instead of truth.” That was before it was amended during former President Barack Obama’s presidency, she added.
That is not exactly the case. The Cold War Era legislation authorized the “preparation, and dissemination abroad, of information about the United States, its people, and its policies, through press, publications, radio, motion pictures, and other information.” It also blocked funds from being used to domestically share propaganda that was aimed at foreign audiences.
The red-headed TikToker, in her clip, urged the president to bring back the 1948 version of the legislation and rename it the “Charlie Kirk Act,” in honor of the 31-year-old influencer and organizer who was killed.
“You make it a law, and you make it damn near impossible for these people to continue to lie to the American public, which has brought chaos, hatred, division and anarchy all across this country,” the TikTok user said. “Fines out the a**, which will dam-near bankrupt their company, should they lie to the American people ever again. They can have their opinions, that’s fine. They need to state that it is their opinion and that it is not a fact. Because of their constant lies, a man lost his life over it; because of the constant hateful rhetoric of calling him a fascist and a Nazi and a white supremacist and a bigot — The same thing that they call to you — This man is dead.”
President Trump shared the video on Truth Social, without adding any additional footage or a text post to go along with it. On TikTok, the 132-second clip has 111,000 views and 30,000 “likes” as of Saturday afternoon.
The restriction on news organizations should also extend to content creators who also knowingly lie to their audience, @official_elly_may said in her video. She said she hoped her message got to the president and that he would consider making major changes.
“I hope that this gets to you. I hope that you think about it and that you pass it into law, because we are on a dangerous path right now with the constant lies and the propaganda,” she concluded. “And that doesn’t end just at news journalists. It needs to go to content creators who consistently spread lies and propaganda and half truths across the internet. This needs to end.”
Her post comes after Kirk was shot and killed at an event at Utah Valley University on Wednesday with his wife and kids in attendance. On Saturday, Fox News reporter Brooke Singman reported the trans partner of suspected shooter was “fully cooperating” with the FBI on its investigation.
