Prince Harry and Meghan Markle released a statement about Meta’s changes (Image: Getty)
and ‘s “melodramatic” and full of “liberal clichés” has allegedly shown they are “now even more out of touch than ever”, according to a royal commentator.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex in which they criticised Meta’s latest , saying it “knowingly puts everyone in harm’s way”.
Harry and Meghan urged the company, which owns Facebook and , to prioritise public safety and put an end to the growing hate speech on its platforms.
They also criticised the social media giant for responding to “political winds” and “abandon(ing) public safety in favour of profit, chaos, and control”.
In their statement, they accused Meta of being “deeply deceptive” over its rollback of protections despite commitments to parents and families calling for change, adding it is contributing to a global mental health crisis.
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The Sussexes released the statement on their website (Image: Sussex.com)
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But the ‘s columnist Michael Deacon labelled the statement a “631-word whine” in which the Sussexes resorted to “all manner of shriekingly melodramatic liberal clichés” by using phrases such as “normalising hate speech”, sowing “division”, undermining “diversity and equity”, endangering “marginalised communities”, and even “destroying democracy”.
He argued that this kind of progressivism is not “effective” anymore and that the modern way is not about “kindness, but control”.
Mr Deacon wrote: “On [Monday], Harry and Meghan grandly issued a lengthy joint statement about Facebook. And it shows they’re now even more out of touch than ever.”
The commentator added: “If the Sussexes were remotely in touch with public feeling – in either Meghan’s country of birth or Harry’s – they would have realised this. They would recognise that times have decisively changed. The mood has shifted. The world has moved on.”
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Prince Harry and Meghan Markle accused Meta of responding to ‘political winds’ (Image: Getty)
But he said that the Sussex couple “haven’t even noticed” and accused them of “mindlessly parroting outmoded slogans and cluelessly clinging to yesterday’s trends”.
He concluded: “To borrow one of the Left’s favourite phrases: they’re on the wrong side of history.”
Meta’s latest decision has been widely criticised by commentators and online safety campaigners, who warned it would allow misinformation to more easily flow on Meta platforms and leave users more at risk from harmful content.
Imran Ahmed, chief executive of the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH), said: “By abandoning its fact-checking programme in favour of a discredited ‘community notes’ system, Meta is turbocharging the spread of unchallenged online lies, worsening the spread of hate, and creating more risks to our communities, democracy, public health, and the safety of our kids.
“Meta is now saying it’s up to you to spot the lies on its platforms and that it’s not their problem if you can’t tell the difference, even if those lies, hate, or scams end up hurting you.”
Meta was contacted for comment.