Meghan Markle & Kate Middleton Targeted By Social Media Abusers, British Press Asks Fans To ‘Tone It Down’

The British press, who has had a reputation for notoriously reporting on the royal family for years, are now banding together to call for an end to the social media abuse reportedly being experienced by both Kate Middleton and Meghan Markle.

The Associated Press reported on January 29 that the British press has pulled together in solidarity to put an end to the cyberbullying of the two duchesses. They are asking fans and critics to “tone down” their rhetoric toward the women.

The royal family has reportedly employed several people whose sole purpose is to go through the palace’s official Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook accounts and remove offensive material, what the Associated Press reported is “racist and sexist.”

The Times published an editorial on January 29 where they remarked both women have been subject to “constant and wholly unpleasant abuse.”

“Women receive more abuse online than men and this sad truth seems to apply just as much to the royal family,” the newspaper said of the treatment of both Markle and Middleton.

It seems the British press is on board with trying to eradicate the problem of cyberbullying the royal family.

Hello! Magazine has developed a new campaign called #hellotokindness where they are asking social media users to use judgment when posting content on social media – whether it be photos, comments or memes. Their goal is to “champion positivity online.”

The publication noted that there has always been a staff that monitored social media comments, but in recent months, the situation has turned “serious.”

“Over the course of last year, with hundreds of thousands of comments, there were two or three that were violent threats. You can delete and report and block people and the police have options around particular people. It’s something you have to manage because there’s no other way to control it,” claimed a palace source to Hello!

Neither Markle nor Middleton has their own social media accounts. Prince Harry and Prince William do not have one either. The four are banded together in a Kensington Palace Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter, where the palace posts official photos and comments regarding their public appearances. Nowhere in the palace’s official social media accounts will there be posts specifically made by any of the four royals.

Kensington Palace has dealt with this type of issue before regarding Markle. They stepped in and released an official statement in November 2016 when the ex-actress was still dating Prince Harry, asking the press to stop harassing the former Suits star and her family.

A lengthy letter explained that Markle was “subject to a wave of abuse and harassment.” The palace called out “the smear on the front page of a national newspaper; the racial undertones of comment pieces; and the outright sexism and racism of social media trolls and web article comments.”

Kensington Palace has not yet commented on the latest campaign of kindness toward the Duchess of Sussex and the Duchess of Cambridge.