Prince Harry says social media is stoking ‘crisis of hate’ and calls for ‘meaningful reform’

'Social media is dividing us. Together, we can redesign it,' writes Duke of Sussex

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The Duke of Sussex has said that social media companies need to reform how they work with advertisers, explaining that the platforms are stoking a "crisis of hate".

Writing in the American business publication Fast Company, Prince Harry explained that he and the Duchess of Sussex have been speaking with business leaders in recent weeks to prompt change.

"The digital landscape is unwell and companies like yours have the chance 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," he wrote, addressing business leaders.

Prince Harry continued his opinion essay but calling on social media platforms 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".

The 35-year-old also questioned how social media platforms use data, writing: "Every time you click they learn more about you. Our information, private data, and unknown habits are traded on for advertising space and dollars,' he wrote.

"The price we’re all paying is much higher than it appears. Whereas normally we’re the consumer buying a product, in this ever-changing digital world, we are the product."

The Prince went on to say that companies who purchase online advertising must recognise the impact it has on how we process information and interact with one another.

"Because, if we are susceptible to the coercive forces in digital spaces, then we have to ask ourselves - what does this mean for our children? As a father, this is especially concerning to me," he added.

"We have an opportunity to do better and remake the digital world, to look at the past and use it to inform the future," Prince Harry concluded.

The Royal's essay comes after he and Meghan Markle publicly backed a campaign calling for businesses to pause advertising on Facebook due to the platform’s failure to combat online hate speech.

The Stop Hate for Profit campaign states on its website that it is asking companies to boycott Facebook throughout July as a show of “solidarity with our most deeply held American values of freedom, equality and justice”.

The initiative states that the platform “allowed incitement to violence against protesters fighting for racial justice in America”, in addition to naming one outlet as a “trusted news source” and another as a “fact checker” despite both “having records of working with known white nationalists”.

A spokesperson for Facebook stated that the company invests “billions of dollars each year to keep our community safe and continuously work with outside experts to review and update our policies”.

“We’ve opened ourselves up to a civil rights audit and we have banned 250 white supremacist organisations from Facebook and Instagram,” they said.

“The investments we have made in AI mean that we find nearly 90 per cent of hate speech we action before users report it to us, while a recent EU report found Facebook assessed more hate speech reports in 24 hours than Twitter and YouTube.”

The spokesperson added that Facebook is aware that it has “more work to do”, and it will “continue to work with civil rights groups, GARM [Global Alliance for Responsible Media], and other experts to develop even more tools, technology and policies to continue this fight.”