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Prince Harry speaks out against online misinformation

Prince Harry called online misinformation a “global humanitarian issue” which must be addressed by cracking down on 'super-spreaders' of false content.

Prince Harry speaks out against online misinformation
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex talking to Oprah Winfrey earlier this year.

The Duke of Sussex's views contributed to a report by US think-tank the Aspen Institute. After a six-month study it made 15 recommendations for leaders to consider and implement.

“Information disorder makes any health crisis more deadly. It slows down our response time on climate change,” the report said.

“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.”

The report calls for “increasing social media transparency and disclosure,” a “new proposal regarding social media platform immunity” and ideas for “reversing the collapse of local journalism and the erosion of trusted media.”

The report also advocated for “community-led methods for improving civic dialogue and resisting imbalances of information power

The Duke described how for “the better part of a year” members of the Aspen Commission had “met regularly to debate, discuss, and draft solutions to the mis- and disinformation crisis, which is a global humanitarian issue.”

He added: “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.”

You can read the full report and recommendations here and find a full list of Commissioners who participated in the panel here.

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