Someone continues to denigrate Harry Meghan? 83 sophisticated Twitter accounts have sparked unprecedented rumors

An analysis of more than 114,000 tweets revealed an ongoing campaign of denigration on social media against the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, many of which supported negative and often hateful content. Bot Sentinel — a "free platform that uses machine learning and artificial intelligence to classify and track untrue accounts and toxic trolls" — released an investigative report reviewing Twitter activity related to the Harrys.

Experts found that the Twitter accounts used a total of 187631 followers to drive their "rumor-mongering" campaigns — a complexity that analytics services chiefs say often comes from people paying for such targets. The investigative report identified 55 "primary accounts" that generated most of the negative content against Megan Markle.

Another 28 users were considered "secondary accounts", forwarding or expanding the tweet influence of the core account. In the survey, Bot Sentinel estimated that the total number of fan users affected by these Twitter accounts reached at least 17 million.

A Twitter spokesperson told BuzzFeed, a U.S. news aggregation site, that they "are actively investigating the information and accounts cited in this investigative report — we will take necessary action against accounts that violate Twitter rules — such as banning or restricting traffic." Twitter's terms of service prohibit activities that "harass or intimidate, or are intended to humiliate or demean others."

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle often denounced the online abuse or denigration they received as high-profile figures. They don't currently have any social media, nor do their Archie Charitable Foundation, and the Harrys use the Archie website to post announcements and statements.

In an interview in January, Prince Harry said the two would "reopen social media accounts when it feels right — perhaps when we see more meaningful changes or promises of reform." And Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, previously said in 2020 that she did not go on social media for her own "self-protection".

Previously, Bot Sentinel CEO Christopher Booz, who had also analyzed campaigns to discredit the 2020 U.S. election results and coronavirus disinformation, said the hate-denigration campaign against the royal couple was unlike anything he had seen before. Mr. Buffs believes the users identified in the report "operate in smarter ways than we usually see". Mr. Bush added that he believed the accounts were controlled by real humans, not robots.

Someone continues to denigrate Harry Meghan? The 83 complex Twitter accounts sparked unprecedented rumors, and Mr. Buzi said: "This activity comes from people who know how to manipulate algorithms, manipulate Twitter, stay online to avoid detection and suspension." This level of complexity comes from people who know how to do these things, and they pay to do these things. ”

Mr Booz told the news that the Twitter accounts went undetected as they paired negative content about the Duke and Duchess of Sussex with positive posts about other members of the royal family. Mr. Bouts estimates that 40 percent of accounts have been suspended by Twitter, but has used tactics such as making accounts private or temporarily disabling them to avoid suspension. When BuzzFeed contacted the accounts for comments, as of now, 4 people have been suspended and 6 others have made their accounts private.

Expert: 83 Twitter accounts alone caused about 70% of the defamation against Harry Meghan? According to news sites, an account openly recruited users to join the "intelligence agency" that attacked the Harrys. The person behind the account said it was "for fun" and that "these things are taken literally and are nothing more than jokes." ”