Exploiting Charlie Kirk’s Death?

Impersonating Charlie Kirk

Subject: Urgent Concern: Impersonation and Misrepresentation on Substack

Dear Substack Team,

We are writing with renewed concern about the Substack newsletter currently listed under the title “Charlie J Kirk.”

As the attached screenshots show, this page is not only live on the platform but also appearing prominently in Substack’s “Rising in U.S. Politics” rankings alongside respected and verified figures such as Dan Rather, Galen Druke, and Ryan Lizza. This prominent placement strongly implies credibility, authenticity, and endorsement.

However, upon clicking through, the page is styled with Charlie Kirk’s full name, likeness, and branding. It uses his image, adopts his voice in posts, and presents itself as a direct continuation of his persona — all while only quietly noting elsewhere that it is “not officially associated.” This disclaimer does little to offset the overall misleading impression that the page is run by Kirk himself, his family, or his partners.

This raises several urgent issues under Substack’s own policies:

1. Impersonation and Deceptive Conduct:
   The use of Kirk’s name and photo, combined with publication under the title “Charlie J Kirk,” is a textbook case of impersonation. Readers encountering this page will reasonably assume it is his official channel. Substack’s guidelines explicitly prohibit misrepresenting one’s identity or affiliation.

2. Exploitation of a Recent Death:
   Given that Charlie Kirk was assassinated earlier this month, a newsletter masquerading under his name is especially exploitative. It manipulates grief and political outrage to attract subscribers and spread content.

3. Platform Integrity and Discovery:
   The fact that this page appears in Substack’s official charts compounds the harm. By ranking it alongside verified and legitimate publications, Substack is inadvertently amplifying a misleading and potentially harmful impersonation at scale.

4. Risk to Reader Trust:
   Allowing a misleading page to thrive under the name of a deceased public figure undermines Substack’s credibility as a platform for authentic journalism and commentary. Readers expect Substack to enforce its rules consistently and to protect them from deceptive accounts.

For all of these reasons, we believe the “Charlie J Kirk” Substack represents a clear violation of Substack’s Community Guidelines and should be reviewed urgently. We respectfully request that your team investigate and take appropriate action to remove or restrict this page in order to uphold platform integrity.

Thank you for your time and attention to this matter. We appreciate your efforts to ensure Substack remains a trusted space for writers and readers.

Sincerely,
Closer to the Edge

---

Support independent journalism. Subscribe to Closer to the Edge and help us keep digging where others won’t.