Prince Harry says he warned Twitter CEO of US Capitol riot
Britain's Prince Harry said he warned the chief executive of Twitter ahead of the January 6 Capitol riots that the social media site was being used to stage political unrest in the US capital.
Harry made the comments on Tuesday while he was taking part
in an online panel on misinformation in California.
He said he made his concerns known via email to Twitter CEO
Jack Dorsey the day before the riot.
“Jack and I were emailing each other prior to January 6
where I warned him that his platform was allowing a coup to be staged,” Harry
said at the RE: WIRED tech forum.
“That email was sent the day before and then it happened,
and I haven't heard from him since.”
Social media sites have come under fire for not doing enough
to halt the spread of misinformation and inciteful content, with the storming
of the US Capitol by supporters of Donald Trump just one example.
Big tech, in general, has been accused of putting growth and
profits ahead of public safety.
Harry also accused other social media sites like Facebook of
misleading “billions of people” with Covid and climate change misinformation.
He also targeted YouTube, saying many videos spreading Covid
misinformation were left up despite violating the site's own policies.
“And worse, they came to the users via the recommendation
tool within YouTube's own algorithm versus anything that the user was actually
searching for,'' he said.
“It shows really that it can be stopped but also they didn't
want to stop it because it affects their bottom line.''
Harry and his wife, the Duchess of Sussex, announced in
early 2020 that they were quitting royal duties and moving to North America,
citing what they said were the unbearable intrusions and racist attitudes of
the British media.
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