Prince Harry says digital platforms stoke 'crisis of hate' and misinformation as he calls for 'meaningful' reform
Prince Harry has called for “meaningful digital reform” in an opinion piece for Fast Company, in which he said digital platforms had helped create and support “a crisis of hate, a crisis of health, and a crisis of truth.”
Revealing that he and the Duchess of Sussex have spent over a month calling industry leaders, CEOs and chief marketing officers at different corporations, he said that there needs to be a “remodel of the architecture of our online community.”
In the piece, Prince Harry (whose full title the Duke of Sussex was included in his byline) called on industry leaders to “remodel the architecture of our online community” in a more compassionate, truthful and equal way as well as speaking out against “weaponised” speech.
He also discussed how as a father, the current state of the digital space was “especially concerning to me” and talked about the negative impact it has on children.
Although Prince Harry did not name any specific companies, he also asked businesses spending major advertising dollars with online companies to rethink where they spend their money.
“The digital landscape is unwell and companies like yours have the chance to reconsider your role in funding and supporting online platforms that have contributed to, stoked, and created the conditions for a crisis of hate, a crisis of health, and a crisis of truth.”
He asked for advertisers to “demand change from the very places that give a safe haven and vehicle of propagation to hate and division.”
The Duke of Sussex also discussed how “algorithmically-driven information feeds” had contributed to the spread of misinformation during the coronavirus pandemic. “One could argue that access to accurate information is more important now than any other time in modern history. And yet, the very places that allow disinformation to spread seem to throw their arms up when asked to take responsibility and find solutions.”
He revealed that he and Meghan had spoken to experts, young people and tech leaders at Stanford University on the matter and additionally discussed Stop Hate For Profit, a racial justice and anti-hate speech campaign which they supported in July.
Stop Hate For Profit, which was founded by the NAACP, Anti-Defamation League and Color of Change, asked corporations purchasing Facebook ads to halt their advertising spend for July to protest the platform’s inadequacy to tackle racist speech, hateful content and misinformation amongst its users.
In a similar vein, Prince Harry asked advertisers to “use their leverage” to put pressure on companies whose policies contributed to the “crisis” - pointing to social media algorithms and inbuilt recommendation tools that “can drive people down paths towards radicalism and extremism that they might not have otherwise.”
He said, “Companies that purchase online ads must also recognise that our digital world has an impact on the physical world—on our collective health, on our democracies, on the ways we think and interact with each other, on how we process and trust information.”
“Because, if we are susceptible to the coercive forces in digital spaces, then we have to ask ourselves—what does this mean for our children?”
He finished, “Our hope is that it’s the beginning of a movement where we, as people, place community and connection, tolerance and empathy, and joy and kindness above all. The internet has enabled us to be joined together."
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are currently based in Los Angeles with their son Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor, after they moved there at the start of the coronavirus pandemic.
A biography about their lives, detailing everything from their first meeting to the decision to step down as senior royals, is set to be published on August 11 and is titled Finding Freedom. In a statement, the book's authors Omid Scobie and Carolyn Durand said the couple "did not contribute" and were not interviewed for it.
The couple stepped down as senior royals on March 31 and since then, they have continued to champion charities they have a long-standing relationship with Prince Harry continuing to support WellChild and Meghan speaking with Smart Works over Zoom.
Meghan also spoke about the Black Lives Matter protests following the deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and Ahmaud Arbery in an address to graduating students from her alma mater Sacred Heart High School.
Discussing her own experience of the 1992 Los Angeles riots, she apologised to students who had to “grow up in a world where [racism] is still present” and called on students to be “part of a movement” now they were entering the adult world.
Saying that graduates could “use your voice in a stronger way” by voting and that they would be a “part of rebuilding”, she said, “You’re going to have empathy for those who don’t see the world through the same lens that you do...I’m already excited for what you are going to do in the world. You are equipped, you are ready, we need you and you are prepared.”
