Prince Harry says term "Megxit" is misogynistic
Prince Harry recently spoke about his exit from the royal family along with his wife Meghan – calling the commonly used term "Megxit" misogynistic. The prince spoke about the term, used in the media to describe the pair's 2020 move to the U.S., during a panel discussion Tuesday.
"The term 'Megxit' was or is a misogynistic term that was created by a troll, amplified by world correspondents, and it grew and grew and grew onto mainstream media. But it began with a troll," he said during Wired magazine's "RE:WIRED" event, which featured panels of "technologists, scientists, artists, actors, and even some royalty" talking about how to build a better future.
Harry also cited a study that found more than 70% of the hate speech about Meghan on Twitter could be traced to fewer than 50 accounts – but said misinformation is not just a social media problem, it's a media problem.
"When a lie spreads on social media, it's dangerous — of course it is. But when that same lie is given credibility by journalists and publishers, that's unethical and as far as I'm concerned, an abuse of power," he said.
Prince Harry, the Duke of Sussex, revealed at the #REWIRED2021 conference today that he had emailed Twitter CEO @Jack Dorsey prior to the Capitol riots on January 6th to warn him that “his platform was allowing a coup to be staged." https://t.co/xpBRCCFzlr pic.twitter.com/LFDZPTPCZt
— WIRED (@WIRED) November 10, 2021
He said tabloid headlines should "come with a warning label like cigarettes" because they often contain misinformation.
He also spoke about his own history with the media and misinformation how it affected his mother, Diana, who was often the topic of tabloid headlines.
"I felt it personally over the years, and I'm now watching it happen globally affecting everyone, not just America, literally everyone around the world," he said. "I learned from a very early age that the incentives of publishing are not necessarily aligned with the incentives of the truth."
"I know the story all too well. I lost my mother to this self-manufactured rabidness, and obviously I'm determined not to lose the mother to my children to the same thing," he said. Diana died in Paris in 1997 during a car crash involving paparazzi.
When WIRED editor-at-large Steven Levy asked Harry if he'd ever had the opportunity to bring his concerns directly to the heads of the biggest social media platforms, the prince described the email conversation with Twitter's Dorsey.
"Jack and I were emailing each other prior to January the 6, where I warned him that his platform was allowing a coup to be staged," he said.