In late January, Kensington Palace finally admitted something which had been clear for months: that there was a frightening amount of online abuse directed towards the Duchess of Cambridge and Duchess of Sussex. The palace framed the issue that way, that both Kate and Meghan were being criticized equally online. As I said at the time, Kate has been criticized for years, but the volume of racism and hatred directed towards Meghan is beyond the pale. Kensington Palace basically admitted that their communications office has spent hours deleting comments on their social media accounts, and blocking or muting unhinged trolls. As many of us said at the time: the official palace social media shouldn’t even allow comments. They need to just cut off the comments on Instagram. But they aren’t doing that. Instead, KP went to Clarence House and now Clarence House is issuing “Social Media Guidelines,” which serves as adequate warning that some haters are going to be investigated or banned or worse. From Clarence House’s press release:
These guidelines are in place to help create a safe environment on all social media channels run by The Royal Family, Clarence House and Kensington Palace. The aim of our social media channels is to create an environment where our community can engage safely in debate and is free to make comments, questions and suggestions. We ask that anyone engaging with our social media channels shows courtesy, kindness and respect for all other members of our social media communities….By engaging with our social media channels you agree to follow these guidelines. Comments must not:
• Contain spam, be defamatory of any person, deceive others, be obscene, offensive, threatening, abusive, hateful, inflammatory or promote sexually explicit material or violence.
• Promote discrimination based on race, sex, religion, nationality, disability, sexual orientation or age.
• Breach any of the terms of any of the social media platforms themselves.
• Be off-topic, irrelevant or unintelligible.
• Contain any advertising or promote any services.Breach of guidelines: We reserve the right to determine, at our discretion, whether contributions to our social media channels breach our guidelines. We reserve the right to hide or delete comments made on our channels, as well as block users who do not follow these guidelines. We also reserve the right to send any comments we deem appropriate to law enforcement authorities for investigation as we feel necessary or is required by law.
[From the Clarence House press release]
I laughed at “Be off-topic, irrelevant or unintelligible.” They’re going to ban people for tweeting threadjacking nonsense at them! Again, I have to say… just shut down comments on Instagram entirely on all of the royal ‘grams. Twitter is always going to be a trickier beast, and I’ve seen a lot of unhinged tweets in reply to various KP tweets. I don’t have an answer for what they should do about it, but I don’t think “asking the racist hater trolls to be nice” is going to work as a long term strategy. We’ll see though – I do think it’s a good thing that Clarence House and KP are finally admitting that there’s a problem, that this isn’t just business-as-usual.
Photos courtesy of WENN.
I mean, I’m glad they’re finally doing something to help her, shes only been attacked at every angle for what feels like 100 years now. So finally they are making slow, steady strides.
Better late than never, I guess!
I can’t imagine how much staff time it takes to delete crazy comments. Turning off the comments seems so much easier.
I suspect they want to keep an eye on dangerous weirdos and also keep tabs on the zeitgeist.
Finally!
Yeah, ’bout time. Disappointed that they weren’t quicker and more fulsome about it, but at least they’re saying something, anyway.
I think the scariest ones are about deaths. Ive seen comments about how Meghans got a car accident coming, or Meghan will be Queen and only 6 have to die.
Theres a lot of deranged people out there. And how these comments weren’t reported to police i don’t know.
Its about time. But i don’t know how much it will help the crazies.
The death threats are HORRIBLE. It’s mind blowing to me. How do you have that much hatred for someone you haven’t met, and who hasn’t really done anything wrong? She’s just living her life.
Yup. Some people are insane. But this is just gonna backfire. Why not just disable comments? Post engagements and leave it at that, give updates and do not bother with insanity.
No matter how much the british press is vapid, most hateful comments come from usa and canada , saw some research on youtube, can post a link when i get home.
CBC had a segment about this from a researcher in Brighton and she traced the large majority of the hateful Meghan comments from the US and then the UK and Canada and other countries after that.
Yes cbc. Tnx. Usa, uk and canada and mostly women.
No matter what k and m do people attack them. Maybe cos these women are gorgeous and loved by their husbands? Cos they bring attention to the royals? Apart from spending what did either one do wrong? Srsly. Meg was married before. So was future king. So were his siblings. Both women have no history of any behaviour one might find shocking.
That would be the best solution, but I wonder if there are concerns similar to the American principle of free speech (not sure what the UK rule is,) being able to voice criticism of the royal family who are considered somewhat like public officials?
I cannot see how USA freedom of speech guarantees US citizens a right to make death threats against a foreign government official with impunity.
There’s one woman on Twitter who’s actually asking for money to fly to wherever Meghan is so she can “confront” her for God knows what. It’s awful.
I think we can be even more specific than that. Probably 99% of the women attacking Meghan are white women. It has been truly revealing. I don’t understand how women can claim to care about Diana’s son (Harry) and wish death upon his “rubber bump wearing social climbing gold digging wife”. YouTube is chock full of horrible comments from women. And monetized
@MargaritasForBreakfast – Yup, and the sad thing is that it’s not even just MAGA white women. Some of the tinhats are “liberal” white women / aka White Feminists.
It’s about time. The comments on the Kensington Palace account were vile. They never should have let it reach this point. There is a group of crazies convinced Meghan is faking the pregnancy and plotting ways to show up at a public engagement and tear away her “fake” belly. And no I am not kidding. One of them managed to show up at an engagement and tweeted photos. She didn’t get close enough to hurt Meghan but the fact that she was there at all is scary.
It scares me how obsessive some of them are. Did Kate have this level of conspiracy hate when she was pregnant the first time?
I don’t think she did – there may have been some, because there are always crazy people, but it wasn’t at this level.
In fairness Kate did get a lot, but the world of social media is bigger and louder than it was when she first got married. Plus, Kate got only the gold-digging sexist comments. Meghan gets those plus the racist and low class American comments to boot, and Harry was more amiable and fun than William ever really has been, and Meghan gets those you’ve made our Prince boring comments, just more threatening. I actually really like William he seems like a good Dad, but I would still say he’s the sullen brother. Death threats have always been there to famous and wealthy people, it’s just now it’s all out there with social media it’s easier to send plus, we actually see the crap. It’s sad, and I’m glad they are attempting something. May not work and they may eventually have to not allow comments, but we will see. They also said threatening comments may be sent to law enforcement. Does Britain have better cyber threatening laws than the US? Just wondering cause if it was true I’d love to send some disgusting comment I read to the police.
This is a pregnant Beyonce level of suspicious hatred being thrown at Meghan. I don’t recall anything like this for Kate. Although the comments were ignorant enough, there wasn’t death threats to Kate.
It stopped after maybe 7, 8 years since she met Will. It was awful but no soc media. She was harassed by the paparazzi. Her phone was hacked. Women hated Kate.
Kate had her of hate it stays forever.
Btw it is not 99 percent white women. Check out insta. Meg is hated by some women but not all white, far from it. Which again, means it is more about them than her.
@Milla – There is an undeniable problem with anti-blackness across different cultures. Not just white women, but also women from South America, Asia, the Middle East. I say this as a WOC who is not black.
They should disable comments on instagram honestly, I get why they won’t, but it would be the best thing to do.
Of course 99% means it is not literally ALL white women but there’s no glossing over the facts that can be acceptable. Sure there are a few Black and Hispanic + other Women of Color spewing ignorance toward Duchess Meghan but the vast majority are unmistakably white women. In sorry. Those are just the facts. In addition very few of the WOC “haters” are as intense and rabid in their hatred and desire to see harm come to Meghan. Those people wishing Meghan would have an auto accident and die or speculating on divorce and banishment back to Canada or the USA…usually are white women. It just is. Now that we’ve acknowledged that how can the issue be addressed? Meghan’s marriage to Harry brought out something really ugly in a segment of the population.
Clarence House is so behind.
This us long overdue.
Of course they are behind they are a monarchy. A very arcane institution to begin with. The only way to modernize is really to disband.
The least they can do!! I remember at the wedding, comments about how Meghan will represent parts of the Commonwealth that haven’t often been represented, especially as they want to strengthen those ties in the face of Brexit. I am South African Indian, two countries very much part of that Commonwealth. I feel about her pretty much the same as I do about Kate. Okay and inoffensive. But seeing how a woman of colour who is supposed to be part of the establishment now, has been treated by the British media and people behind the scenes of the royal family, does not do them any favours with their former colonies. Harps back to really distasteful times and attitudes.
Really, Kaiser is correct here, they should just cut off comments on all social media. Nothing good comes of them. During the December Meghan vs Kate nonsense, the KP FB page was out of control. So many racist Americans ranting about their “freedom of speech” (hahahaha) to criticize as they saw fit. As if FB is a public park in the USA. WTF?
+1 Ela – As a WOC and American, I had a certain positive image of the UK before Meghan. But seeing how she’s been treated by the British media / courtiers has made me look at the country as a whole differently…and seeing how she’s been little protected by the BRF has made me lose respect for a lot of them. (Of course my opinion as a foreigner doesn’t matter to them unless they care about their international reputation so…). I just see the UK as such a regressive society where class is so strongly entrenched that even in 2019, an aimless aristocrat who’s never achieved anything in their life will be seen as superior over a middle class person who’s worked for everything they’ve earned.
It’s a start, I suppose, and not before time, but I agree with Kaiser that cutting the racists and the bigots and the deranged loons off with a ‘no comment facility’ policy would be the more sensible route.
I feel like there would be a big blowback if they cut the comments off completely. I mean – I fully understand why that would be the best case scenario in a lot of ways – but I can see why they haven’t done it as well. I think they’re worried about completely censoring comments by disabling them and the kind of commentary that would open them up to. But at the same time, they’ve been put into a position where they almost have to just do it.
Yes, I agree. I think on IG they *may* be able to get away with disabling the comments – say something about how its just to share pictures, not for commentary or something – but in the end that doesn’t really matter because there is no way they could get away with disabling comments on Twitter and FB (if they even could, I don’t know that there is a way on FB.) And because they cant cut off all comments, its probably not worth the blowback to only disable them in one place.
Even on here yesterday people were making comments about how this move would not end well and its censoring free speech etc. So I can see why they are reluctant to disable comments.
Legally, I think they have a case to block especially against foreigners (USA) making death threats against a UK political figure. US Freedom of Speech doesn’t give you unlimited, unchecked freedom of speech in every corner of the globe.
They are not going to keep up with this, it is going to keep happening and the men is grey are gonna let it happen to ‘keep Meghan in her place’ and show her who has the real power.
Just you watch.
From last I checked, most responses to this policy on IG and Twitter were pretty positive, but there were a few people screeching about free speech and how the royals cant take criticism.
Erm, no, that’s not it. There’s a difference between saying “I like Kate more than Meghan because I relate to her more” or “I don’t like Kate’s dress for this event” and saying some of the other stuff that gets posted. I feel like KP maybe should post examples, ha.
You know what, that’s not a bad idea. I think if someone who’s not following palace accounts hears about comments being disabled, they might reasonably believe it’s about shutting up criticism and free speech. Because they’re unaware of the vile and unhinged comments their posts illicit. Perhaps the palace should be like, here’s the type of comments we’re doing this for, and shock people. They’ll never do that but it would be an eye opener.
I have gone on the daily mail to read comments and the hatred that Meg gets is just crazy. There is no other word for it. And the sad part is that these people live among us and they hide behind their screens. Such vileness and hate. This woman has not done anything to anyone. And has actually put herself to work. Don’t get me wrong, I am not a Kate fan, but I do not wish her ill will. Just a better work ethic and some more pizzazz in her fashion ☺️
@Seraphina – exactly. I’m not a big Kate fan, but I don’t “hate” her. And honestly when I’m not actively discussing the royals (like here), I don’t really think about them. Its sort of weird to me that people let someone like Meghan take up so much space in their heads.
@Becks1, wholeheartedly agree. It’s “fun” commenting on fashion and while I do get annoyed Kate doesn’t do more, the comments at Megs just leave me shocked. I know Kate had to overcome the “class” issue but Megs has that, race and her Hollywood career to over come. And while I would love to believe color doesn’t play a part in this, I believe the people who detest her do so because of her background as far as race is concerned. Which is a damn shame that in 2020 people haven’t been educated or deprogrammed to understand color, ethnicity (nor gender) have anything to do with your opinion of a person.
I wonder how many of the DM commenters are paid trolls, anf if so, why does the DM want to pay people to down-arrow and ctiticize Meghan?
Well finally! They should ban comments completely
Agreed. Apart from just wanting flattery (ego boost) the comments serve no purpose. No-one from KP is replying to them. Disable the comments across the board, post pics and leave it at that. Having to trawl through comments sucks up paid time and public funds; a total waste of resources.
I was amused by a few of the royal reporters jumping on this announcement to state how they are victims too. I have seen RRs get some hard push back from folks who are fed up with the made up stories and clownery they call truth from inside sources. The media’s own contributions of nastiness and perpetuation of feeding the social media trolls with incendiary commentary needs to be addressed too.
I rolled my eyes at that too.
Is there a reason not to disable comments? People(.com) hasn’t had comments for awhile, and I honestly find it irritating. I like reading the comments along with the articles. It’s less fun without.
I wonder if perhaps it would impact the number of subscribers, if the royals care about that kind of thing? Or it might just be like punishing everyone because of a few nutjobs. I haven’t looked at the comments to see what % are crazy vs. regular.
This is EXACTLY what happened to South African news I used to follow! Ended upp unfollowing. Just not fun anymore, But it WAS necessary, sadly! 😒
Since they stated that they will pass on comments to law enforcement, I think it’s a good idea to keep those comments open. There are some hateful and stupid people out there who will never believe that *their* comments will be referred to Scotland Yard. If Clarence House actually does it, everyone will know that they mean business.
Everyone who puts comments on royal sites is clocked and monitored. Part of security.
Ah! I never knew that. I hope they have already reported people for their horrible comments.
A CBC newsite I read has changed their comment policy. You can now only comment under your real name.
I’ve not read death threats, but I’ve seen harsh comments that she’s stupid (what?) breaking protocol (how so?), merching and skimming profits. Some are gleeful about the divorce to come, feel sorry for the baby because she’s such a narcissisist or NPD, their diagnosis. There’s been surrogate chatter or that she wears padding to appear larger so when the baby is born it will appear the baby weight is shed quickly. Huh.
Wait a minute she’s pregnant, but wearing padding too? Just so she looks like she lost a lot of weight. Wow that’s a creative story, but kind of stupid. What pregnant woman would do that.
the padding theory is so dumb. i’ve never been pregnant, but i can’t see how a pregnant would want to put on extra padding, why add to your discomfort?
I think even crazier is that when these guidelines were posted, there were SO MANY people saying how it violates freedom of speech! What in the actual f**k!