Kensington Palace are spending hours monitoring negative comments made against Duchess Catherine and Duchess Meghan online.
A team at the royal household have been scrolling through social media – including on old material – to check out and investigate racist and sexist comments made against the Duchess of Cambridge and the Duchess of Sussex.
A source said: "A lot of hours are being spent reviewing old material and moderating comments under posts. 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 … It follows a Kate vs Meghan narrative and some of the worst stuff is between Kate fans and Meghan fans. 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?"
The backlash against the royals has led HELLO! magazine to launch their #HelloToKindness campaign, which champions online positivity.
HELLO’s Head of Digital Sophie Vokes-Dudgeon added: "Issues of low self esteem are rife among young people these days and we feel, as a responsible publication with high values, we need to lead the way. It’s a big concern for our readers too; in a recent survey we discovered how important these issues are to the people we write for, which is exactly why they read our publications.
"Being healthy in mind as much as in body is important to our audience. They are acutely aware of mental health and self esteem issues experienced by themselves, friends and family and also celebrities. They are realistic that celebrities and royals are not immune from life’s ups and downs and they admire those who have spoken out about mental health and image issues."
Duchess Catherine and Duchess Meghan subjected to online trolls
