Prince Harry has had enough of the current state social media and blames it for stoking a ‘crisis of hate’.
On Thursday, business magazine Fast Company published an essay written by the Duke of Sussex titled ‘Social media is dividing us. Together, we can redesign it’.
In the article, the prince revealed that he and his wife Meghan Markle had spent the last month working with entrepreneurs and marketing executives to change the current culture of social media.
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'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 wrote, choosing not to specifically name specific companies nor their owners.
Harry asked those running social media companies, like Facebook and Instagram, to step up and set new standards for hate speech, noting that algorithms and recommendation tools can ‘can drive people down paths towards radicalism and extremism’ which they might not have headed towards otherwise.
'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,' Harry added.
'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? As a father, this is especially concerning to me.'
He also called for content online to be ‘defined more by compassion than hate; by truth instead of misinformation; by equity and inclusiveness instead of injustice and fearmongering; by free, rather than weaponised, speech’.
'We have an opportunity to do better and remake the digital world, to look at the past and use it to inform the future,' Harry noted.
'We must take a critical eye to the last two decades, where advancements in technology and media have outgrown many of the antiquated guardrails that once ensured they were being designed and used appropriately.'
In the article, Harry also touched on the importance of truth in reporting, months after he and Meghan Markle ceased their relationship with four UK tabloid newspapers - the Daily Mail, Daily Express, The Sun and The Daily Mirror - and he spoke out against the 'bullying' of the former actress in the media.
'One could argue that access to accurate information is more important now than any other time in modern history,' Harry wrote.
'And yet, the very places that allow disinformation to spread seem to throw their arms up when asked to take responsibility and find solutions.’
In June, the royal couple launched their Stop Hate for Profit campaign with several non-profit organisations to call for a global boycott of Facebook advertising over CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s failure to address racist content, hate speech and misinformation.
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Katie O'Malley is the Site Director on ELLE UK. On a daily basis you’ll find Katie managing all digital workflow, editing site, video and newsletter content, liaising with commercial and sales teams on new partnerships and deals (eg Nike, Tiffany & Co., Cartier etc), implementing new digital strategies and compiling in-depth data traffic, SEO and ecomm reports. In addition to appearing on the radio and on TV, as well as interviewing everyone from Oprah Winfrey to Rishi Sunak PM, Katie enjoys writing about lifestyle, culture, wellness, fitness, fashion, and more.
