Prince Harry believes online misinformation is a “global humanitarian issue”. The Duke of Sussex was involved in a six-month study on the state of the US media conducted by the Aspen Institute’s new Commission on Information Disorder and after the organization published their report and 15 recommendations, the 37-year-old royal said he hoped the guidance would be adopted.
On the prince’s and his wife Meghan’s website Archewell, he said: “For the better part of a year, we at the Aspen Commission have met regularly to debate, discuss and draft solutions to the mix- and disinformation crisis, which is a global humanitarian issue.
“I hope to see the substantive and practical recommendations of our commission taken up by the tech industry, the media industry, by policymakers and leaders. This affects not some of us, but all of us.”
The report called for accountability for “superspreaders” of online lies, as well as “substantial” investment in local journalism, more diverse workforces at social media companies, and creating a US government “national response strategy” for tackling misinformation.
A letter from the three co-chairs of the report, which included broadcaster Katie Couric, said: “Information disorder makes any health crisis more deadly. It slows down our response time to climate change.
“It undermines democracy. It creates a culture in which racist, ethnic and gender attacks are seen as solutions, not problems.
“Today, mis- and disinformation have become a force multiplier for exacerbating our worst problems as a society. Hundreds of millions of people pay the price, every single day, for a world disordered by lies.”
Harry was one of 15 commissioners on the report, with others including Quadrivium Foundation co-founder Kathryn Murdoch and her husband James, the son of media mogul Rupert Murdoch.
Associated Newspapers is appealing against the Duchess’s victory in a high court privacy case against the Mail on Sunday.