Duke’s fears for girls in ‘fake’ cyber world

THE DUKE of Cambridge has spoken about the online pressures young women face to look their best and warned about the “fakeness” of the cyber world.

William, inset, criticised the growing problem of “touched-up” pictures during an unannounced visit to a west London academy to discuss cyber bullying and mental health issues at a special school assembly.

He was joined by mental health campaigner rapper Professor Green, who in the past has supported the Duke’s Heads Together campaign to encourage the nation to talk about its psychological problems.

After a question-and-answer session hosted by YouTube star Dan Howell, William and Green had the chance to talk to groups of Year 10 students who had listened to the earlier assembly that highlighted the issues around cyber bullying. When the chat turned to online images the Duke told Samara Hackett-Valton and Sophie Crowder, both aged 15, from Ark Burlington Danes Academy in White City: “It’s the best pictures or the touched-up pictures, particularly the girls. I worry for you girls ... so don’t try and recreate or think that’s what, you know, you’ve got to aim for – there’s a lot of fakeness online so don’t worry about that.” There is a growing market for apps that allow users to touch up their selfies or online pictures, removing blemishes, and manipulated celebrity photographs regularly feature on the web.