Auckland teacher Martinique says her students, some of whom are 13 years old, saw graphic footage of Charlie Kirk's killing on social media.
An Auckland high school teacher says it’s distressing so many of her pupils unintentionally watched graphic video of Charlie Kirk’s assassination, with one 13-year-old telling her during class “Miss, I can’t get the picture out of my head”.
She feared violence served up on social media was being normalised for young New Zealanders - an assertion backed up by New Zealand Classification Office research - and accused social media giants of having “abysmal” moderation efforts.
Martinique, who asked the Herald not to publish her surname or the name of her school, said 13 and 15-year-old students in multiple classes told her they’d seen detailed video of the moment Kirk was assassinated during a speech at Utah Valley University.
“They were telling me that they had seen someone shot, and that they had watched it on TikTok, and it seemed pretty widespread that most students in the class had seen it,” she told the Herald.
She said some in her class had found it difficult afterwards to focus on normal lessons.
Within minutes of the shooting, and even before Kirk was confirmed dead, video of the murder - which included high resolution footage of Kirk’s neck wound - spread across multiple platforms racking up millions of views.
That’s despite social media companies long claiming they don’t allow violent content on their platforms.
Martinique called the lack of filters and protection for young people “abysmal” and felt social media companies only took action retrospectively.
She said some of her pupils didn’t understand exactly what they’d witnessed.
“I just gave them the space to not be okay for a little bit and just to take a break from the work we were doing. It’s really distressing to me that what they are seeing is so graphically violent,” she said.
She said even though phones are banned at school - a policy she supports - it’s easy for students to glance at devices before school or during breaks in lessons.
“I said ‘you’re not meant to see things like that. That’s not something any of us should be watching.’”
Martinique felt social media had normalised violent content for young people, and footage of brutal fights between students within or outside school frequently did the rounds.
The New Zealand Classification Office (NZCO) told the Herald the threshold for classifying content as objectionable requires more than a mere depiction of graphic violence - it must also promote and encourage violence.
A spokeswoman for NZCO said the agency didn’t receive any formal requests for action from the Department of Internal Affairs when video of Kirk’s killing started circulating online.
“While live footage of a murder can be graphic and highly distressing, it doesn’t always have the effect of promoting or supporting the violence. However, just because content isn’t illegal, it doesn’t mean it isn’t harmful,” she said.
Chief Censor Caroline Flora praised the actions and efforts of Martinque who helped her students to process what they’d seen.
“Unfortunately, young people can be exposed to this kind of horrible content, especially when it spreads so quickly after going viral on social media platforms. That’s why it’s so important they have trusted adults, like whānau or teachers, to talk things through with,” she told the Herald.
Flora said Research carried out by the NZCO in June found the most common type of harmful content young New Zealanders are seeing is graphic violence.
People aged between 12 and 25 years old were interviewed as part of the research, with respondents saying they frequently came across violent content when they weren’t looking for it.
“They overwhelmingly told us this was becoming a more normal experience - to see extreme content online, including real life extreme violence,” Flora said.
She urged parents to engage in open conversations with children about the prevalence of harmful material online and to not freak out if a young person admitted having seen graphic material.
While the biggest category of objectionable material classified by the NZCO remains child sexual exploitation material, Flora said extreme violence is the fastest-growing category.
Figures provided to the Herald show that in 2023, 24 of the publications referred to NZCO were tagged as “violent extremism” or “extreme violence”.
Last year, the number of videos, images or audio with such descriptions more than doubled to 64.
Following the livestream of the March 15 mosque attacks, the NZCO was given power to issue interim bans on content if the Chief Censor believes certain content is likely to be objectionable.
The new rules - although retrospective - mean the NZCO can act more quickly to advise the public that possessing, viewing or sharing certain content is illegal.
Former teacher Holly Brooker is scathing of tech companies’ promotion of safety features to protect young people.
Brooker, who is also the co-founder of online education group Makes Sense, told the Herald parents should not trust social media platforms.
“Graphic content spreads because it drives clicks, views and profit. The Kirk video hit 11 million views in just a few hours - that’s not failure, that’s a business model,” she told the Herald.
She likened social media to the online “wild west” and said violent content has significant impacts on young people.
“It erodes empathy, normalises violence, and research shows it can fuel aggression. We cannot allow graphic violence to become part of everyday childhood,” she said.
Brooker called for the introduction of legislation to stipulate clear duties of care for platforms, an independent regulator with enforcement powers and investment in education for parents and children.
A spokesman for Tik Tok told the Herald the platform does not allow gory, gruesome, disturbing, or extremely violent content.
He said violent acts - like video of Kirk’s assassination - have “no place in our society” and “additional safeguards” have been introduced to prevent people seeing material that violates company rules.
He said automated technology used to identify content that could violate Tik Tok’s policies prevents a large amount of harmful content reaching users’ accounts.
Michael Morrah is a senior investigative reporter/team leader at the Herald. He won News Journalist of the Year at the 2025 Voyager Media Awards and has twice been named reporter of the year at the NZ Television Awards. He has been a broadcast journalist for 20 years and joined the Herald’s video team in July 2024.