Internet trolls attack Meghan Markle and Kate Middleton, forcing royal staff to seek help from Instagram
- Royal duchesses’ Instagram and Twitter accounts plagued by vitriolic messages
Kensington Palace has been forced to seek advice from social media companies over online abuse and physical threats, some aimed at the Duchesses of Cambridge and Sussex.
The high level of vitriol and abuse on the royal family’s platforms has meant staff have to spend several hours a week moderating and deleting posts, which include racist and sexist abuse as well as threatening remarks.
Officials have now sought help from Instagram to deal with the problem.
Some of the worst, hate-filled personal abuse is said to be between competing camps that support Kate or Meghan, fuelled by some media reporting that pits the women as rivals.
While some of the abuse has been directed at the two royals, more of it was arguments between rival fans, particularly on the Kensington Palace Instagram account, which has 7 million followers, with any given post attracting in excess of 1,000 comments.
While the overwhelming majority of these comments are positive and engaging, buried among them are some that are viewed as being “very aggressive, particularly with each other”, said a source.