Prince Harry, who rakes in millions with his wife Meghan after quitting royal life, has told big tech it should be motivated by ‘well-being’ and not just ‘financial incentive’ in a lengthy interview about social media where he blames it for the US Capitol riot and the destruction of the rain forest – but says they’ll rejoin it when it’s ‘right for us’.
Harry was interviewed by Fast Company for an article published on Friday which is in a lengthy Q&A format.
It’s unclear when or how the internet took place but he gives long, intense answers where he talks about the ‘guiding principle’ of his life (the duty to truth and alleviation of suffering) and ‘the current consequences of the digital space’.
He claims he and Meghan received the ‘mothership of all harassment’ through social media when they got married, and he also shared his views on how to reform it after spending much of 2020 ‘consulting the experts about it.’
Harry and Meghan are now making millions through podcasts on Spotify and shows on Netflix, along with investments, after controversially quitting royal life, which would never have allowed them to launch the money-spinning projects they have.
In the interview, he says the pair want to be part of ‘the human experience’ and not ‘a human experiment’ but that the current state of the tech world needs to be ‘reformed’.
‘There has to be accountability to collective well being, not just financial incentive,’ Harry said when asked what the solution is.
He labeled big tech the ‘incredibly powerful and consolidated gatekeepers’ and says social media has become the root of violence and confusion because it plays host to so much disinformation.
In a new interview, Prince Harry complains that he and Meghan were subjected to ‘the mothership of harassment’ when they got married and that social media spreads hate. They are shown in a recent Zoom appearance from their California mansion
Harry, in his interview, said he and ‘his wife’ had ‘no social media to quit’ and that it was fabricated by ‘a Rupert Murdoch newspaper’ but that they’ll return to it ‘when it’s right for us’.
Sources close to the pair said that they’d given it up as a tool for promoting their projects. Royal and branding experts have speculated the decision may be financially motivated because they become less accessible without it, and therefore more expensive.
‘We will revisit social media when it feels right for us—perhaps when we see more meaningful commitments to change or reform—but right now we’ve thrown much of our energy into learning about this space and how we can help,’ Harry said.
He claims the pair experienced the nasty side of social media when they got married.
‘I was really surprised to witness how my story had been told one way, my wife’s story had been told one way, and then our union sparked something that made the telling of that story very different.
‘That false narrative became the mothership for all of the harassment you’re referring to.
‘It wouldn’t have even begun had our story just been told truthfully.’
Later, he attributed world events like the January 6 attack on the US Capitol and the destruction of the Amazonian rain forest to social media sites too.
‘There was a literal attack on democracy in the United States, organised on social media, which is an issue of violent extremism.
‘It is widely acknowledged that social media played a role in the genocide in Myanmar and was used as a vehicle to incite violence against the Rohingya people, which is a human rights issue.
‘And in Brazil, social media provided a conduit for misinformation which ultimately brought destruction to the Amazon, which is an environmental and global health issue.’
Harry claimed that he ‘from an early age’, was guided by the principle of ‘the duty to truth, the pursuit of compassion and the alleviation of suffering.’
‘My life has always been about trying to do my part to help those who need it most, and right now, we need this change—because it touches nearly every single thing we do or are exposed to.’
He did not name any of the social media sites he has issues with, but calls on people to spend less time online.
‘Consider setting limits on the time you spend on social media, stop yourself from endlessly scrolling, fact-check the source and research the information you see, and commit to taking a more compassionate approach and tone when you post or comment.
‘These might seem like little things, but they add up. There’s a responsibility to compassion that we each own. Humans crave connection, social bonds, and a sense of belonging.
‘When we don’t have those, we end up fractured, and in the digital age that can unfortunately be a catalyst for finding connection in mass extremism movements or radicalisation.
‘We need to take better care of each other, especially in these times of isolation and vulnerability.’
Asked ‘where do we go from here’, he said: ‘I ask the same thing every day and lean on the experts to help give guidance on how to reform the state of our digital world—how we make it better for our kids, of course, but also for ourselves—now.
‘The avalanche of misinformation we are all inundated with is bending reality and has created this distorted filter that affects our ability to think clearly or even understand the world around us.’