He - with extreme self-awareness - was hijacking the white male violence digital feedback loop to spread and amplify his ideas and actions.Įarlier in the video stream, the killer showed off his guns, all of them emblazoned with text. The Christchurch killer wasn’t only trying to make himself go viral. But at their core, they are just ideas that spread. We often think of memes as images, funny words on funny pictures. Not only because he killed 49 people, but also because he tapped into a well-established digital feedback loop where white male violence is uploaded, distributed, consumed, and remixed by others. No matter the killer’s intent, we should take what this disaffected individual allegedly said and wrote and did online seriously. Like his reference to far-right influencer Candace Owens in a 74-page manifesto published just before the killings began, the PewDiePie quip immediately set off discussions on Twitter about whether or not the killer was trolling the media, whose coverage would inevitably follow. The reference was among several the suspected killer made that were all seemingly intended to make his gruesome murder spree go viral. PewDiePie, the infamous Swedish YouTuber, has been connected to a string of racist and anti-Semitic controversies over the years.

'Remember lads, subscribe to PewDiePie,” the suspect remarked as he loaded guns into the back of his car. On Friday, a 28-year-old Australian man went live on Facebook as he drove toward a Christchurch, New Zealand, mosque where he would allegedly begin a shooting spree, killing 49 people and injuring dozens of others.

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