Prince Harry says he warned Twitter CEO of US Capitol riot

Agencies| Manama

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

Britain’s Prince Harry said he warned the chief executive of Twitter ahead of the Jan. 6 Capitol riots that the social media site was being used to stage political unrest in the US capital.

Harry made the comments Tuesday while he was taking part in an online panel on misinformation in California. He said he made his concerns known via email to Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey the day before the riot.

“Jack and I were emailing each other before January 6 where I warned him that his platform was allowing a coup to be staged,” Harry said at the RE: WIRED tech forum.

Twitter declined to comment on Harry’s remarks.

Social media sites have come under fire for not doing enough to halt the spread of misinformation and inciteful content, and the storming of the US Capitol by supporters of Donald Trump is often cited as an example of the consequences of allowing hate to fester. Big tech, in general, has been accused of putting growth and profits ahead of public safety.

Harry accused other social media sites like Facebook of misleading “billions of people” with misinformation about Covid-19 and climate change. He also targeted YouTube, saying many videos spreading Covid-19 misinformation were left up despite violating the site’s policies.

“And worse, they came to the users via the recommendation tool within YouTube’s algorithm versus anything that the user was searching for,” he said. “It shows really that it can be stopped but also they didn’t want to stop it because it affects their bottom line.”

Harry was listed as the co-founder of his non-profit organization Archewell at the tech forum. Earlier this year he joined the U.S. think tank the Aspen Institute as a commissioner looking into misinformation and disinformation in the media.