Prince Harry slams ‘fake news’, ‘misinformation’ in Aspen Institute think-tank report

The Duke of Sussex has attacked fake news superspreaders as part of his role as a “commissioner on disinformation”.

Prince Harry has continued his campaign against so-called fake news by releasing a wide-ranging report as part of his role as a “commissioner on disinformation” with a left-wing think tank in the US.

The Duke of Sussex, 37, is one of 15 commissioners and three co-chairmen who have conducted a six-month study into the digital “avalanche of misinformation” on behalf of the Aspen Institute based in Washington DC.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle attend the Annual Salute To Freedom Gala in New York City. Picture: Theo Wargo/Getty Images for Intrepid Sea, Air, & Space Museum

He revealed on his Archewell website that the group has outlined a “list of 15 specific recommendations for leaders to consider adopting across the public, private and non-profit sectors”.

Prince Harry is continuing his campaign against misinformation and “fake news”. Picture: Theo Wargo/Getty Images for Intrepid Sea, Air, & Space Museum

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

Other “solutions” that were given in the report include pushing for “community-led methods for improving civic dialogue and resisting imbalances of information power”; and “accountability for ‘superspreaders’ of online lies”.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle visiting the Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst in New Jersey. Picture: Sgt Jake Cartier/Task Force Liberty Public Affairs

The report comes a week after Prince Harry slammed the harmful effects of “misinformation” on social media at the tech conference RE:WIRED 2021, saying he was determined not to lose Meghan Markle like he lost his late mother, Princess Diana.

Speaking at the conference, the royal revealed his fears as he warned of “the real cost of a lie on the internet”.

“I lost my mother to this self-manufactured rabidness, and obviously I’m determined not to lose the mother [of] my children to the same thing.”

“First off, I’ve said this before and I’ll say this again, misinformation is a global humanitarian crisis,” Harry said.

“The scariest part about it is that you don’t need to be online to be affected by this.

“I learned from a very early age that the incentives of publishing are not necessarily aligned with the incentives of truth.”

Originally published as Prince Harry slams ‘fake news’, ‘misinformation’ in Aspen Institute think-tank report