Prince Harry says online misinformation is threat to democracies, calls for accountability

Britain’s Prince Harry recently said dominant social media platforms have contributed to and stoked the conditions for a crisis of hate, health and truth which he believes is a threat to democracies. In an interview with Fast Company, Prince Harry called for more accountability for online platforms and further accused them of shunning responsibility. He also highlighted both the role that they played in the recent US Capitol riots and the treatment of the Rohingya population in Myanmar. 

Over the past years, Prince Harry and his wife Meghan Markle have become increasingly outspoken advocates for healthier social media. The couple has pushed for change in the current digital ecosystem and they have even called on business leaders to rethink their role in funding the advertising system that underlines the misinformation and divisive rhetoric that’s often shared on online platforms. Now, Prince Harry has again spoken about the online “harassment” and said that the world has seen time and again what happens when the real-world cost of misinformation is disregarded. 

While speaking to the media outlet, he said that there is no way to downplay this. He noted the “literal attack on democracy in the US” and said that it is an “issue of violent extremism”. Prince Harry said that it is widely acknowledged that social media played a role in the genocide in Myanmar and was used as a vehicle to incite violence against the Rohingya people, which is a human rights issue. 

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Prince Harry optimistic about healthier social ecosystem 

Further, he also noted that in Brazil, social media provided a conduit for misinformation which ultimately brought destruction to the Amazon, which is an environmental and global health issue. “In a way, taking a predominantly hands-off approach to problems for so long is itself an exercise of power,” Prince Harry said. The 36-year-old went to say that people are losing their loved ones to conspiracy theories, losing a sense of self because of the barrage of mistruths, and at the largest scale, losing democracies. 

Prince Harry called for accountability and added that it is hard for him to understand how the online platforms themselves can eagerly take profit but sun the responsibility. While concluding the interview, he also said that he is optimistic about the ability to build a healthier online ecosystem. “We have to believe in optimism because that’s the world and the humanity I want for my son, and all of us. We look forward to being part of the human experience—not a human experiment,” he said. 

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