Fake news shared online directly leads to action on the streets, Prince Harry has warned in the wake of riots that swept the country.
The Duke of Sussex, speaking at an online safety summit in Bogota, Colombia, cautioned that the continual spread of false information via AI and social media meant that social cohesion had “completely broken down”.
He said: “What happens online within a matter of minutes transfers to the streets. People are acting on information that isn’t true.
“It comes down to all of us to be able to spot the true from the fake.”
He added: “In an ideal world, those with positions of influence would take more responsibility. We are no longer debating facts.
“For as long as people are allowed to spread lies, abuse, harass, then social cohesion as we know it has completely broken down.”
His comments came after riots and disorder swept the UK this month following the killing of three girls in Southport.
Rioting by far-Right mobs erupted following the deaths of Alice da Silva Aguiar, nine, Bebe King, six, and Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, who were killed on July 29 at a Taylor Swift-themed dance workshop.
In the hours before the first riot in Southport, misinformation had spread online, including false claims that the suspect was a Muslim migrant who had arrived in a small boat.
Both the Duke and Duchess of Sussex spoke at the two-and-a-half-hour Responsible Digital Future forum on the first day of their visit to Colombia that will touch on themes of anti-colonialism and female empowerment.
The Duchess warned that everyone had either fallen victim to cyberbullying or knew someone who had suffered, noting that such behaviour was not restricted to those from certain backgrounds or sections of society.
“It doesn’t matter where you live. It doesn’t matter who you are,” she said. “Either you personally or someone you know is a victim to what’s happening online. And that’s something we can actively work on every day to remedy.”
She added: “We should model how we want our kids to be raised and for the world in which we raise them.”
Does anyone care? I know I’m reacting to this but only to say I normally fastidiously avoid clicking links that mention H&M in the vain hope that the media will realise no one gives a toss.
Mach-082 on
A very fair argument. Communications skills have never been as important to our community either.
So many times people express their idea in a way that is open to misinterpretation and/or misunderstanding and the negative effects of that just snowball from there as those most likely to misinterpret or misunderstand it spread that thought/idea downstream where the original idea gets incrementally distorted again and the cycle continues.
CosmicShrek14 on
Society has also been broken by government lies and MSM lies as well.
LDKCP on
A member of the Royal family talking about what’s wrong with society will never not be stupid.
It’s you lot, it’s the inequality that the rich maintain that is the root of broken communities.
PR0114 on
I have a feeling the messenger of this message that no one disagrees with is going to be shot here
ElliottFlynn on
Who give a fuck what he thinks? Or rather what Megan has told him to think?
hackthewhat on
society only supposed to make him happy, but look at that now
Jaffa_Mistake on
What I’ve learned from my life in this country is that people generally don’t want British society to be good.
MimesAreShite on
i mean online misinformation is certainly part of the tapestry in terms of what is causing these problems, but i think a lot of people (especially those with power) are desperate to imagine that it’s the only problem, because it’s easier and more comfortable to pretend that social ructions are only happening due to people being misinformed than to grapple with the reality that these things mainly happen due to real problems and contradictions and ideologies within british society.
when it comes from elites like this it comes off as somewhat patronising and paternalistic – if only the poors got the right information they’d behave precisely how i think they should behave (for someone like Harry that presumably means we’d all be basically nice to each other but never challenge the ingrained wealth and privilege that him and others of his class benefit from). and the frequent focus on this misinformation coming from abroad can ironically come across as just as xenophobic and reactionary as the stuff the racists in the street think
LostnFoundAgainAgain on
What is with all these comments? You’re making it about him instead of the message and ignoring what he is trying to say just because he said it.
Yea, I don’t like the Royal family, and I get all the stuff in here, but the message itself that online is full of fake information, made-up statistics, bullshit stories and just straight up lies is a problem.
Who should regulate it, what laws and powers should be implemented and etc.. are all series of complex conversations, but the fact is that online is becoming worse and worse with bullshit information.
Optimaldeath on
It’s going to get worse as well with AI-generated crimes ruining your brand/image well before you can sue them, though to be fair it mostly affects those with a public image but collective fear is a thing. Suddenly we’re even more willing to have a surveillance state just to ensure we can have viable alibi’s.
Some sort of agrarian commune is looking like an acceptable option with the way things are developing.
InanimateAutomaton on
People like to pretend that this stuff is new like it hasn’t been around since the invention of the printing press.
jrob1097 on
So a silver spooned asshole who doesn’t even live in the UK thinks he can comment on what’s wrong with society
It’s not online lies that broke society it’s the low wages and the fact that society doesn’t even exist anymore
Prestigious_Clock865 on
Society broken by years of deregulation, austerity, unaccountable billionaires and ultimately, capitalism… that was then stoked by online lies… but sure, it all started with social media… totally
Lunarfrog2 on
He’s not wrong but he’s maybe not the person to say it
TheArctopus on
He’s not wrong, but he’s not entirely right either. Social cohesion has broken down because of rampant polarisation, widespread inequality, and fanatical tribalism; everything has become ‘us’ and ‘them.’ Lots of people in this country are having a shit time of it, and they’re angry and disenfranchised and looking for someone to blame. And so, when presented with two different explanations for their woes, truth is secondary to where the explanation is coming from; is it coming from one of ‘us’ or one of ‘them?’ The proliferation of misinformation is a symptom, not a cause.
Unfortunately, Prince Harry – coming from perhaps the most privileged background possible – is very much a ‘them’ and not a ‘us’ to the people the misinformation is targeted at, and so him getting on his soapbox and placing personal responsibility on individuals to exercise critical thinking skills isn’t going to go down very well…
Immediate-Tennis9524 on
I completely disagree with him. Meet society’s material, emotional, and health needs and watch the belief in the lies evaporate.
Incorrect distribution of wealth has left people fighting for resources and it’s become all to easy to pin the problem on minorities taking those resources intended for the majority.
Colonialism, and imperialism all rely on a divided and desperate population.
I’d be more into Harry if he could set an example by actually campaigning for people’s needs being met and the redistribution of wealth.
pikantnasuka on
The way people react more to the messenger is than the message itself is always interesting.
(Believe me I’m aware I do it myself, I’m not coming at this with a sense of superiority).
jdobso on
But Harry, they’re just “telling their truth”, like your wife did to Oprah.
SomeRedditorTosspot on
Dudes been caught lying more times than I think anyone can count.
bluecheese2040 on
No…its broken by decades of political lies and media mistrust….that’s what created space for others.
Fact is anyone that’s no identifying systemic flaws as the wider problem is part of the problem.
NonStopHopScotch on
The ability to listen and to understand what’s really going on has been eroded into nothing. The people want to be heard, not brushed away. Wonder how they’ll feel about a former prince saying they didn’t feel real feeling and were silly NPCs governed by social media….
Why can’t any leading politician step up and say “yes asylum and immigration has rapidly changed some areas” it’s really not hard to listen to people and appease them through rhetoric.
Been saying this all week: Brexit should have warned us we had alienated a significant proportion of the population, but it didn’t. Instead they were mocked and ridiculed and blamed for the decline of the nation.
Guess what: THOSE PEOPLE DIDNT GO ANYWHERE! Yet they find themselves pushed out by establishment groups leaving the EDL and other thuggish mobs.
VegetableTotal3799 on
A man who comes from a family that has a whole industry at their beck and call to manufacture consent about their views.
Our Saxe-Coburg friends views (remember him dressing up as a nazi) are not that far from some of the people who went out to shit on their own towns.
I do seem to recall a lot of racist and bigoted views publicly repeated from the lips of his grandparent and well known nazi.
The right wing ARE the establishment.
teachbirds2fly on
It’s the online lies that broke society!
It definitely wasn’t the decades of under investment in large swathes of the country, lack of skills, jobs, training, education, identity, security, hope for a future.
It definitely isn’t the fact that the majority of the countries towns and cities are deprived left behind dumps outside a few thriving hubs…
It definitely isn’t the fact that infrastructure, social services, mental health care have been hollowed out to nothing…
Nope it’s the tweets!!!
Neither-Stage-238 on
Why are you not living in hartlepool Harry? There’s no problems?
NateShaw92 on
“Do not believe everything you read online, and especially to not believe quotes” Plato
dazb84 on
Failure to trace a problem to its root cause. The headline should be society completely broken because the education system fails to equip people with an epistemology that can handle modern life.
28 Comments
***The Telegraph reports:***
Fake news shared online directly leads to action on the streets, Prince Harry has warned in the wake of riots that swept the country.
The Duke of Sussex, speaking at an online safety summit in Bogota, Colombia, cautioned that the continual spread of false information via AI and social media meant that social cohesion had “completely broken down”.
He said: “What happens online within a matter of minutes transfers to the streets. People are acting on information that isn’t true.
“It comes down to all of us to be able to spot the true from the fake.”
He added: “In an ideal world, those with positions of influence would take more responsibility. We are no longer debating facts.
“For as long as people are allowed to spread lies, abuse, harass, then social cohesion as we know it has completely broken down.”
His comments came after riots and disorder swept the UK this month following the killing of three girls in Southport.
Rioting by far-Right mobs erupted following the deaths of Alice da Silva Aguiar, nine, Bebe King, six, and Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, who were killed on July 29 at a Taylor Swift-themed dance workshop.
In the hours before the first riot in Southport, misinformation had spread online, including false claims that the suspect was a Muslim migrant who had arrived in a small boat.
Both the Duke and Duchess of Sussex spoke at the two-and-a-half-hour Responsible Digital Future forum on the first day of their visit to Colombia that will touch on themes of anti-colonialism and female empowerment.
The Duchess warned that everyone had either fallen victim to cyberbullying or knew someone who had suffered, noting that such behaviour was not restricted to those from certain backgrounds or sections of society.
“It doesn’t matter where you live. It doesn’t matter who you are,” she said. “Either you personally or someone you know is a victim to what’s happening online. And that’s something we can actively work on every day to remedy.”
She added: “We should model how we want our kids to be raised and for the world in which we raise them.”
**Full story:** [**https://www.telegraph.co.uk/royal-family/2024/08/16/fake-online-news-leads-to-action-on-streets-prince-harry/**](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/royal-family/2024/08/16/fake-online-news-leads-to-action-on-streets-prince-harry/)
Does anyone care? I know I’m reacting to this but only to say I normally fastidiously avoid clicking links that mention H&M in the vain hope that the media will realise no one gives a toss.
A very fair argument. Communications skills have never been as important to our community either.
So many times people express their idea in a way that is open to misinterpretation and/or misunderstanding and the negative effects of that just snowball from there as those most likely to misinterpret or misunderstand it spread that thought/idea downstream where the original idea gets incrementally distorted again and the cycle continues.
Society has also been broken by government lies and MSM lies as well.
A member of the Royal family talking about what’s wrong with society will never not be stupid.
It’s you lot, it’s the inequality that the rich maintain that is the root of broken communities.
I have a feeling the messenger of this message that no one disagrees with is going to be shot here
Who give a fuck what he thinks? Or rather what Megan has told him to think?
society only supposed to make him happy, but look at that now
What I’ve learned from my life in this country is that people generally don’t want British society to be good.
i mean online misinformation is certainly part of the tapestry in terms of what is causing these problems, but i think a lot of people (especially those with power) are desperate to imagine that it’s the only problem, because it’s easier and more comfortable to pretend that social ructions are only happening due to people being misinformed than to grapple with the reality that these things mainly happen due to real problems and contradictions and ideologies within british society.
when it comes from elites like this it comes off as somewhat patronising and paternalistic – if only the poors got the right information they’d behave precisely how i think they should behave (for someone like Harry that presumably means we’d all be basically nice to each other but never challenge the ingrained wealth and privilege that him and others of his class benefit from). and the frequent focus on this misinformation coming from abroad can ironically come across as just as xenophobic and reactionary as the stuff the racists in the street think
What is with all these comments? You’re making it about him instead of the message and ignoring what he is trying to say just because he said it.
Yea, I don’t like the Royal family, and I get all the stuff in here, but the message itself that online is full of fake information, made-up statistics, bullshit stories and just straight up lies is a problem.
Who should regulate it, what laws and powers should be implemented and etc.. are all series of complex conversations, but the fact is that online is becoming worse and worse with bullshit information.
It’s going to get worse as well with AI-generated crimes ruining your brand/image well before you can sue them, though to be fair it mostly affects those with a public image but collective fear is a thing. Suddenly we’re even more willing to have a surveillance state just to ensure we can have viable alibi’s.
Some sort of agrarian commune is looking like an acceptable option with the way things are developing.
People like to pretend that this stuff is new like it hasn’t been around since the invention of the printing press.
So a silver spooned asshole who doesn’t even live in the UK thinks he can comment on what’s wrong with society
It’s not online lies that broke society it’s the low wages and the fact that society doesn’t even exist anymore
Society broken by years of deregulation, austerity, unaccountable billionaires and ultimately, capitalism… that was then stoked by online lies… but sure, it all started with social media… totally
He’s not wrong but he’s maybe not the person to say it
He’s not wrong, but he’s not entirely right either. Social cohesion has broken down because of rampant polarisation, widespread inequality, and fanatical tribalism; everything has become ‘us’ and ‘them.’ Lots of people in this country are having a shit time of it, and they’re angry and disenfranchised and looking for someone to blame. And so, when presented with two different explanations for their woes, truth is secondary to where the explanation is coming from; is it coming from one of ‘us’ or one of ‘them?’ The proliferation of misinformation is a symptom, not a cause.
Unfortunately, Prince Harry – coming from perhaps the most privileged background possible – is very much a ‘them’ and not a ‘us’ to the people the misinformation is targeted at, and so him getting on his soapbox and placing personal responsibility on individuals to exercise critical thinking skills isn’t going to go down very well…
I completely disagree with him. Meet society’s material, emotional, and health needs and watch the belief in the lies evaporate.
Incorrect distribution of wealth has left people fighting for resources and it’s become all to easy to pin the problem on minorities taking those resources intended for the majority.
Colonialism, and imperialism all rely on a divided and desperate population.
I’d be more into Harry if he could set an example by actually campaigning for people’s needs being met and the redistribution of wealth.
The way people react more to the messenger is than the message itself is always interesting.
(Believe me I’m aware I do it myself, I’m not coming at this with a sense of superiority).
But Harry, they’re just “telling their truth”, like your wife did to Oprah.
Dudes been caught lying more times than I think anyone can count.
No…its broken by decades of political lies and media mistrust….that’s what created space for others.
Fact is anyone that’s no identifying systemic flaws as the wider problem is part of the problem.
The ability to listen and to understand what’s really going on has been eroded into nothing. The people want to be heard, not brushed away. Wonder how they’ll feel about a former prince saying they didn’t feel real feeling and were silly NPCs governed by social media….
Why can’t any leading politician step up and say “yes asylum and immigration has rapidly changed some areas” it’s really not hard to listen to people and appease them through rhetoric.
Been saying this all week: Brexit should have warned us we had alienated a significant proportion of the population, but it didn’t. Instead they were mocked and ridiculed and blamed for the decline of the nation.
Guess what: THOSE PEOPLE DIDNT GO ANYWHERE! Yet they find themselves pushed out by establishment groups leaving the EDL and other thuggish mobs.
A man who comes from a family that has a whole industry at their beck and call to manufacture consent about their views.
Our Saxe-Coburg friends views (remember him dressing up as a nazi) are not that far from some of the people who went out to shit on their own towns.
I do seem to recall a lot of racist and bigoted views publicly repeated from the lips of his grandparent and well known nazi.
The right wing ARE the establishment.
It’s the online lies that broke society!
It definitely wasn’t the decades of under investment in large swathes of the country, lack of skills, jobs, training, education, identity, security, hope for a future.
It definitely isn’t the fact that the majority of the countries towns and cities are deprived left behind dumps outside a few thriving hubs…
It definitely isn’t the fact that infrastructure, social services, mental health care have been hollowed out to nothing…
Nope it’s the tweets!!!
Why are you not living in hartlepool Harry? There’s no problems?
“Do not believe everything you read online, and especially to not believe quotes” Plato
Failure to trace a problem to its root cause. The headline should be society completely broken because the education system fails to equip people with an epistemology that can handle modern life.