THE Sussex Squad is a group of social media trolls, carrying out some of the worst online bullying of the Princess of Wales.
The group - which is not endorsed by the Sussexes - has peddled sick conspiracy theories around Kate Middleton’s abdominal surgery, claiming she was the victim of domestic violence, was in the middle of a divorce from Prince William or hiding away after plastic surgery.
Even when the princess last week bravely told the world she is undergoing chemotherapy for cancer, the cyberbullies claimed her video was AI-generated.
The self-proclaimed Sussex Squad claims The Sun’s exclusive video of Kate visiting a farm shop in Windsor features a body double or lookalike.
The trolls cruelly claim Prince William threw his wife “under a bus” after the princess admitted tweaking her annual Mother’s Day picture.
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And today The Sun revealed some of the sinister tactics the trolls use against those who speak out against them.
But social media experts have seen this coming from a mile off, says Center for Countering Digital Hate CEO Imran Ahmed...
THE lies that spread around the world about the Princess of Wales’ illness were shocking and disgusting.
But it's no surprise to those of us who study social media and the damage it does to society.
One of the biggest myths about social media is that it reflects the voice of the people. It doesn’t.
Social media is an experience created by engineers using a lot of complicated mathematics that builds an addictive timeline that keeps you constantly reaching for your phone.
The platforms have learned over time that what really keeps people addicted is controversy, conspiracy theories and outrage that creates a negative emotional reaction.
So they pump those conspiracies into our timelines, at the expense of authentic news.
As users, we respond with anger and disgust, often on the platform itself, and then sit and wait and see what others say.
And all the time, we are watching ads, racking up profit for these platforms.
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Quite often the platforms will deliberately induce fear and paranoia – and that is exactly what has happened to the Royal family in recent weeks.
But while this is addictive, is it healthy for us as individuals, or for society? Absolutely not.
First, it increases our sense that the world is bonkers and full of threats. That’s not healthy for democracy.
It raises what social scientists call “polarisation”, which makes people on both sides of the political debate demonise and even hate those they disagree with.
Second, the more often we see something untrue, the more likely we are to believe it.
'Illusory truth effect'
In psychology, it’s called the “illusory truth effect”.
If you saw ten plumes of smoke coming from a building, you’d assume there’s probably a fire.
If you see hundreds of videos on TikTok telling us the Royal Family are lying about the Princess of Wales, the same effect makes us cast doubt on a young woman who was simply shielding the privacy of her family while she copes with a devastating diagnosis.
This sick business model is hurting our society and innocent people
Imran Ahmed
And social media platforms are raking in cash as a result.
Mark Zuckerberg and his social media owner chums are among the richest people who have ever lived.
And the “influencers” creating this content are making money, too.
It encourages a new breed of “conspiracy spiv” to emerge, who exploit these patterns, jumping on the latest conspiracy theory to get more followers, more exposure, and more profit.
This sick business model is hurting our society and innocent people.
It’s the same system that shoves eating disorder content into young girls’ timelines and antisemitic hate onto Jewish people’s feeds.
Children are being preyed on by adults, and scammers are running riot online. This is actually anti-social media.
What can be done
The government passed an Online Safety Act last year - but it’s missing some key components.
In particular, it’s missing real transparency – all of us who use social media still can’t see for ourselves how the algorithms work and how platforms enforce their rules, if they do so at all.
The Center for Countering Digital Hate is demanding the government fix this now.
It’s time we get transparency from social media platforms, so we can hold them accountable when they screw up.
And, when it does someone real harm, we need to be able to hold them financially liable.
That’s how you get a healthy democracy and healthy industries.
