Prince Harry addresses Capitol riots, says social media played a role: ‘There is no way to downplay this’

Prince Harry has spoken about the riots in Washington DC earlier this month.

On January 6, protesters stormed the US Capitol building on the day Congress was due to confirm Joe Biden’s Electoral College victory, and a series of arrests, inquiries and more followed.

Having recently moved to the United States with his wife, former American actress Meghan Markle, the 36-year-old prince has expressed concern about the role social media has played in the chaos.

When asked if companies like Twitter and Amazon should be allowed to choose who they give access to, Harry acknowledged the seriousness of the riots.

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“We have seen time and time again what happens when the real cost of disinformation is ignored. There is no way to minimize that,” he said. “There has been a literal attack on democracy in the United States, organized on social media, which is a problem of violent extremism.”

Harry then gave more examples.

“It is widely recognized that social media played a role in the genocide in Myanmar and was used as a means of inciting violence against the Rohingya people, which is a matter of human rights,” the royal said. “And in Brazil, social media provided a channel for the disinformation that ultimately led to the destruction of the Amazon, which is a global health and environmental problem.

“In a way, taking an essentially hands-off approach to problems for so long is in itself an exercise in power,” Harry continued.

He added that he was thinking of a place in London called Speakers’ Corner, which promotes “open-air debate, dialogue and the exchange of information and ideas”.

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Harry compared the area to a ‘public square’, which some have compared to social media amid the ongoing debates.

“There are ground rules. You can’t incite violence, you can’t obscure who you are, and you can’t pay to monopolize or own the space itself. Ideas are considered or shot down. ; opinions are formed, ”he explained. . “At its best, movements are born, lies are exposed, and attempts to stir up violence are rejected in the moment. At worst, intolerance, group thinking, hatred and persecution are magnified. And sometimes that forces you to draw lines. and rules or laws to emerge or be challenged.

However, the royal clarified that he did not think “we should ditch the technology in favor of Speakers’ Corner”.

“We should rather avoid acquiring the idea that social media is the ultimate public place of modern times and that any attempt to hold platforms to account for the landscape they have created is an attack or restriction of the word, ”he told me. “I think it’s a false choice to say that you have to choose between free speech or a more compassionate and trustworthy digital world. They are not mutually exclusive.”

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The Duke of Sussex pointed out that in the case of social media, the privileged few have devised “algorithms” that are seen by “billions” of users, whether the algorithm presents accurate information or not.

“It radically changes how and why we inform opinions. It changes the way we speak and what we decide to speak. It changes the way we think and react,” he explained. “In the end, it allowed completely different versions of reality, with opposing sets of truths, to exist simultaneously.”

He said that such an industrial model has decimated the need for “one’s own understanding of the truth” to be “fact-based,” as any form of “proof” can be found through widespread misinformation.

“I think this is the opposite of what we should expect from our collective online community,” Harry said. “The current model sorts and separates rather than bringing us together; it drowns or even eliminates healthy dialogue and reasonable debate; it takes away the mutual respect we should have for each other as citizens of the same world.”

The royal also revealed what he plans to do to address the issue, which he called a “humanitarian issue”.

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“That’s why my wife and I spent much of 2020 consulting with experts and learning directly from academics, advocates and policymakers. We also listened with empathy to people who have stories to share, including those who have been deeply touched by disinformation and those who have grown up as digital natives, ”he shared.

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The royal concluded: “What we hope to do is continue to be a spotlight for their perspectives, and focus on harnessing their experience and energy to accelerate the pace of change in the digital world.”