Prince Harry is looking media bullies and online trolls straight in the eyes. During a November 9 panel for WIRED magazine, the Duke of Sussex spoke out against online and media hatred, as well as British tabloid journalists who “amplify” false conspiracy theories and hateful rhetoric.
“Maybe people know this and maybe they don’t, but the term Megxit was or is a misogynistic term, and it was created by a troll, amplified by royal correspondents, and it grew and grew and grew into mainstream media. But it began with a troll,” said Harry, who is currently in New York for a ceremony to honor war heroes.
The duke’s conversation was part of a RE:WIRED event panel titled The Internet Lie Machine, which focused on the impact that online falsehoods have on communities, democracies, and the world.
Calling misinformation a “global humanitarian crisis,” Harry shared his own personal experience with sensationalism and media shock tactics, issues that are now a problem both online and off. “I felt it personally over the years, and I’m now watching it happen globally affecting everyone, not just America, literally everyone around the world. I learned from a very early age that the incentives of publishing are not necessarily aligned with the incentives of the truth,” said Harry, who lost his mother, Princess Diana, to an August 1997 car crash after being chased by paparazzi in Paris. “I know the story all too well. I lost my mother to this self-manufactured rabidness, and obviously I’m determined not to lose the mother to my children to the same thing.”
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