By Sheila Mckenzie-
An analysis of more than 114,000 tweets about the Duke and Duchess Of Sussex has revealed a coordinated campaign of targeted harassment of Meghan on Twitter — and the 83 accounts responsible for approximately 70% of the negative and often hateful content.
On Tuesday, Twitter analytics service Bot Sentinel released a report examining Twitter activity related to the Sussexes.
It found that the majority of the hate and misinformation about the couple originated from a small group of accounts whose primary, if not sole, purpose appears to be to tweet negatively about them. Bot Sentinel’s analysis also revealed a level of sophistication and coordination between the accounts, who use their combined 187,631 followers to fuel a campaign of negativity against Harry and Meghan.
The findings by twitter show a systemic level of anger and hostility aginst The Duchess Of Sussex, who took her story to Oprah Winfrey In March, and made multiple allegations against the Royal family.
The interview sparked shock and condemnation in the British public, dividing the British society across strong partisan lines- those who were royalists and on the side of the royal family and leading former televison presenter, Piers Morgan and supportewrs of the Duke and Duchess Of Sussex.
Honest assessment has been difficult on either side of the spectrum , with ill feeling running high in the wake of the airing of the interview.
Loyalties mixed with personal strong emotions about the many claims during the interview sent social media and tabloids into overdrive in the days , weeks, and months following the revelations, some of the veracity of which have been disputed.
The couple departed social media last year, and Meghan told Fortune in October 2020 that she hadn’t been on social media in a long time “for [her] own self-preservation.
Sentinel , a crowdfunded website and browser plug was created in 2018 to analyze the activity of Twitter accounts and identify those that violate the platform’s terms of service.
It evaluates accounts and assigns it a score based on the likelihood that the account is either run by a bot or by someone engaging in targeted harassment, trolling, or other behavior banned by Twitter’s rules.
Bot Sentinel has in the past published analysis that includes the right-wing campaign to discredit the results of the 2020 American election, accounts behind COVID-19 disinformation, and online abuse toward UK football players after the team lost in the Euro 2020 final.
“There’s no motive,” he said, comparing the anti-Meghan campaign to other disinformation and harassment campaigns on Twitter such as the #StopTheSteal movement to overturn the results of the 2020 US presidential election or the campaign to remove actor Amber Heard from the upcoming Aquaman sequel as a result of abuse allegations made against her by ex-husband Johnny Depp. “Are these people who hate her? Is it racism? Are they trying to hurt [Harry and Meghan’s] credibility? Your guess is as good as ours.”
Bot Sentinel sited examples of tweets from this group of 83 users that violate Twitter’s terms of service against targeted harassment.
An advance copy of the Bot Sentinel report and the list of users identified within it and found hundreds of additional tweets that violate Twitter’s rules was released to Buzz Feed news, which was circulating on social media.
Twitter’s terms of service forbid abusive behavior and engagement “that harasses or intimidates, or is otherwise intended to shame or degrade others” and prohibit social coordination between accounts that results in harm to others or that encourages dogpiling.
Bouzy emphasized that the negative Twitter activity is not fuelled by automated bot accounts, but real accounts run by humans.
“This campaign comes from people who know how to manipulate the algorithms, manipulate Twitter, stay under the wire to avoid detection and suspension,” he said. “This level of complexity comes from people who know how to do this stuff, who are paid to do this stuff.”
The Duchess Of Sussex as many enemies as they have supporters- many brits were disappointed with the Duchess Of Sussex’s decision to step back from royal duties, after they claimed life in the palace was made unbearable.
A big breakdown that led to the departure of Piers Morgan and that of The editor of the Society Of editors contributed to the fuel of further hate, especially after several column inches in the tabloids and online later challenged the honesty and integrity of some of Meghan Markle’s accounts.
The attack against the royal family from those angry after hearing disturbing details of allegations by Prince Harry and Meghan against the royal family that eventhe Queen was subjected to open ccriticism by Dr-Shola-Mos Shogbamimu, intensifying the anger against Meghan Markle because of how wild the fire of rage and anger was burning by strong supporters of both parties.
Some critics have called for Dr. Shogbamimu to publicly apologise to the Queen for disrespecting her on television, after asking ‘what kind of grandmother she was’ for allowing the press to bully the Duchess Of Sussex. The woman’s rights activists was among several guests complained about during the showdown with Piers Morgan on Good Morning Britain in the days after the Duke and Duchess’s interview with Piers Morgan.
Insult To Duke And Duchess Of Cambridge
Many of those in support of Meghan Markle also insulted the Duchess insulted the Duke and Duchess Of Cambridge-Prince William and Kate Middleton.
Shortly after the bombshell interview with Oprah Winfrey, Middleton was accused for preaching about kindness whilst being unkind to her sister in law, and another occassion Meghan’s fans acc accused Prince William and his wife of trying to compete with Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, after they set up a Youtube channel to reveal behind the scenes clips of the couple.
The fact the Duchess Of Susses has not challenged any of the alleged lies she told to Oprah Winfrey has added to intense dislike by many online trolls who strongly despise her, and view her as an attention seeker trying to wreck the royal family.
Race Element And Bullying Allegations
The race element has also been a strong dimension to any disscussions or debates about Meghan Markle because of the wide view that her mixed race heritage was the prime reason for her being rejected, both in the royal family and wide sections of the British public.
Such claims havre annoyed many of Meghan’s critics, who insist it is her character and perceived exploitation of her status as Prince Harry’s wife that people dislike, not her colour.
Bullying allegations against her by her former staff were promised to be investigated by Buckingham Palace, but has either not been completed or not made publicly known, probably to let the tension calm down over time.
Following Ofcom’s report in early September believed to have cleared Piers Morgan against thousands of complaints made against him, this publication last week revealed our own finding directly from Ofcom’s mouth that their report did not actually clear the former television presenter, but rather cleared the broadcaster (ITV) of breaching its code.
There have been calls for a wider analysis of the Duchess Of Sussex, whose father is yet to meet his grandchildren, and who has attacked her image several times in the media.
The revelation of co-ordinated abuse against Prince Harry and Meghan Markle will renew calls for social media giants like twitter to be hld to account for abusers on their platform, and for new arrangements to get rid of anonymous users on twitter.
The implementation of such changes are overdue, but will not completly remove the hate against them by their enemies.
It will take a true and wide discussion of what went wrong to change minds, with any possible efforts to make positive changes made.