Prince Harry slams social media for ‘stoking crisis of hate’

Britain’s Prince Harry is no stranger to online criticism, and in a special opinion piece published in August 2020, said social media was stoking a “crisis of hate”, reported Reuters.

In an opinion piece for U.S. business magazine Fast Company headlined “Social media is dividing us. Together, we can redesign it,” Harry said that he and his wife, Meghan, have spent the past few weeks calling business leaders and marketing executives on the issue.

The Duke of Sussex urged companies 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.”

Prince Harry, the grandson of Queen Elizabeth, called for online communities 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.”

Harry and Meghan, formally known as the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, live in Los Angeles after stepping down from their royal roles in March 2020 to forge new careers. They moved out of the UK after growing media hostility.

In a speech given on July 2020, Meghan urged teen girls and young women to drown out sometimes “painfully loud” negative online chatter with positivity.

Prince Harry in his opinion piece urged companies to use their advertising dollars “to demand change from the very places that give a safe haven and vehicle of propagation to hate and division.” - Reuters