Kensington Palace forced to act over online abuse of Meghan and Kate

Royal aides at Kensington Palace are spending hours each week monitoring their social media accounts to moderate the sexist and racist comments aimed at the Duchess of Cambridge and Duchess of Sussex and their fans.

As revealed by Hello!, it’s become such an issue that staff have turned to Instagram to help them learn all the tools they need to tackle the abusive comments.

The source told the magazine: “The Palace has always monitored comments but it’s a hugely time consuming thing.

“They can block certain words, but some of it is quite serious.

“Over the course of last year, with hundreds of thousands of comments, there were two or three that were violent threats.

“You can delete and report and block people and the police have options around particular people.

“It’s something you have to manage because there’s no other way to control it.”

The Duchess of Sussex deactivated her social media accounts last January, but Kensington Palace have their own official accounts on Twitter and Instagram (@kensingtonroyal), which provide commentary about Meghan, Harry, William and Kate’s work.

They currently have 7.1 million followers on Instagram and 1.68 million on Twitter.

Reports of a feud between the Cambridges and the Sussexes began to emerge at the end of last year and this appears to have fuelled the online negativity. So much so that the palace have begun to take action.

“It follows a Kate vs Meghan narrative and some of the worst stuff is between Kate fans and Meghan fans,” the source continued.

“Arguments about who looks more appropriate, for example, that turn into personal attacks on other users.

“It’s creating a supercharged atmosphere and everyone can join in, but what are the consequences of this?”

Prince Harry released an unprecedented statement when his relationship with Meghan was revealed in 2016, stating that his girlfriend had been subjected to “a wave of abuse and harassment” and that he was “worried about Ms. Markle’s safety.”

According to US Insider, Meghan has also found it “frustrating” that she has not been able to “stand up for herself” amid the rumours of a rift with Kate.

However, during the royal tour of Australia, she told locals on Sydney’s Bondi Beach that she found it “freeing” to be off social media.

Hello! magazine have launched their #HelloToKindness campaign, to champion positivity online. Find out more here.

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