China and Russia ‘behind slurs on Princess’
Whitehall sources warn disinformation online may be used to ‘destabilise’ society
CHINA, Russia and Iran are fuelling disinformation about the Princess of Wales to destabilise the nation, Whitehall sources believe.
Senior government figures fear that hostile states are behind the spread of wild conspiracy theories and online rumours surrounding the Princess’s health.
After the Princess announced her cancer diagnosis on Friday, Rishi Sunak led condemnation of social media trolls for targeting her online in recent weeks.
But the Prime Minister’s intervention did not deter further frenzied commentary, with a disinformation chief saying yesterday that the Princess had been “revictimised” by trolls criticising her for not publicly revealing her diagnosis sooner.
Yesterday, it emerged that there was growing concern in Whitehall that hostile state actors could be involved in whipping up the frenzied social media attacks on the Princess. A government source told The Telegraph: “Part of the modus operandi of hostile states is to destabilise things – whether that is undermining the legitimacy of our elections or of other institutions.”
Downing Street is preparing to announce fresh sanctions on China today, after a wave of state-backed cyber attacks against a group of senior MPS and peers.
The threat of Chinese state interference in British democracy will be raised in Parliament today by Oliver Dowden, the Deputy Prime Minister.
He is expected to say that China was behind a hack on the Electoral Commission last year, during which the personal details of 40 million voters were accessed. Meanwhile, Alison Giles, parliament’s director of security, will brief a group of MPS on the heightened threats they face as a result of their hawkish stance on China.
The first UK sanctions against Chinese government officials were announced in 2021 for “systematic” human rights violations against Uyghurs and other minority groups. Last month, Britain issued a wave of sanctions against Chinese companies accused of aiding Russia’s war in Ukraine.
A taskforce launched by the Government last year aimed at protecting the democratic integrity of the UK from threats of foreign interference is currently looking at a range of ways to tackle the spread of disinformation and conspiracy theories online. The Defending Democracy Taskforce, which is chaired by Tom Tugendhat, the security minister, and includes members of the security services as well as Home Office and Science Department officials, focuses on the role of rogue state actors in spreading disinformation.
“Countering this is right at the heart of the work of the taskforce,” a government source said. One area under
consideration is boosting the role of fact-checking organisations, but officials are wary that this could lead to a new set of controversies. BBC Verify recently came under fire for using an anti-israel journalist bankrolled by Iran as a key source in its reporting on the Gaza conflict.
Another option being studied by the taskforce is whether social media companies can contain the speed at which disinformation is shared on their platforms.
Imran Ahmed, chief executive of the Center for Countering Digital Hate, said the frenzied social media attacks had “done damage” to the Royal family.
“When you’ve got a young lady, the Princess of Wales, who has suffered a medical emergency, you see people flooding in with conspiracy theories, you see them being amplified on social media platforms and pushed to millions and millions of people,” he told the BBC’S Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg.
“What really, I think, annoyed me was seeing that she was then being revictimised by being blamed for not having come out immediately,” he added.
“I think it’s the inhumanity of the way that social media has made us behave, forcing people to talk about things that can be very deeply personal.
“And also seeing, of course, the impact of that on our society; how quickly it was picked up by millions of people, and how much it’s done damage to the Royal family themselves.”
Palace sources say the current challenges facing the Royal family, in which both the King and Princess are off public duty as they undergo treatment for cancer, are a “temporary blip” rather than a “seismic change”. They added that the King was “very positive” and was “building towards” a return to public work in the summer, health permitting.
The Princess said in her Friday statement that her news came as a “huge shock”, adding: “William and I have been doing everything we can to process and manage this privately for the sake of our young family.”
She added: “We hope that you will understand that, as a family, we now need some time, space and privacy while I complete my treatment.”
The Prince of Wales is taking three weeks off for the Easter holidays with his wife and three children. The Princess will not resume public duties until she has clearance from her medical team. The Queen is the most senior member of the Royal family out on public duty this week, with three engagements. On Thursday, she will undertake her most visible role yet representing the King, distributing Maundy money at the Royal Maundy service at Worcester Cathedral.
The King will deliver an Easter message at the service which was recorded before news of the Princess’s treatment for cancer was made public and is not expected to mention the Royal family’s personal situation.
The Princess Royal and Duke of Edinburgh will be undertaking their normal engagements, before the family breaks for Easter.
In 2021, the Duke of Sussex helped launch a report aimed at tackling the “disinformation crisis”, which he says “is a global humanitarian issue”. The Duke, who has previously voiced his concerns about an “avalanche of misinformation” caused by digital media, was involved in a six-month study on the state of the media in the US conducted by the Aspen Institute’s new Commission on Information Disorder.
The group issued 15 recommendations “for leaders to consider adopting across the public, private, and nonprofit sectors”.
According to a statement from the Duke and Duchess’ Archewell foundation, the work was driven by a need to find solutions to the rapid rise of misinformation in recent years that has “harmed communities, and impacted our democracies”.
Lord Cameron, the Foreign Secretary, has previously warned that Britain will not tolerate the escalation of Iran’s “malign” activities in the Middle East or on UK soil.
A government spokesman said: “The Government has regular and ongoing dialogue with social media companies to discuss a range of issues including disinformation. We are also working across government to ensure we are ready to respond to threats, including through our Defending Democracy Taskforce.
“When fully implemented, under the Online Safety Act, platforms will be required to swiftly remove illegal misinformation and disinformation as soon as they become aware of it.”
‘It’s the inhumanity of the way that social media has made us behave’
‘Under the Online Safety Act, platforms will be required to swiftly remove illegal misinformation... as soon as they become aware of it’