Traditional news outlets were careful in their coverage of conservative activist Charlie Kirk's assassination to not show graphic images of the event.

But if people wanted to see graphic evidence of what happened to him, it was easily available online — and millions of people quickly sought it out.

It showed how media's gatekeeper role had changed so markedly in the era of social media.

Gory images — from different angles, with different perspectives — were up on X, Facebook, YouTube, even Truth Social, illustrating the difficulty of policing disturbing images in an era where nearly everybody carries a camera.

For more than 150 years, news organizations like newspapers and television networks have long been accustomed to “gatekeeping” when it comes to explicit content — making editorial decisions around violent events to decide what images and words appear on their platforms for their readers or viewers.

But in the fragmented era of social media, smartphones and instant video uploads, editorial decisions by legacy media are less impactful than ever.