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RE:WIRED 2021: Prince Harry on Misinformation as a Global Humanitarian Crisis

The Duke of Sussex talks about misinformation before the digital age and how it has affected him and his family personally.

Released on 11/09/2021

Transcript

Misinformation is a global humanitarian crisis.

As you quite rightly pointed out,

I felt it personally over the years

and I'm now watching it happen globally,

affecting everyone, not just America,

literally everyone around the world.

I guess the scariest part about it

is you don't need to be online to be affected by this.

I think Renee mentioned this as well.

It's important to recognize this problem,

it did not originate on social media

and you do not need to be online to be affected, as I said.

I learned from a very early age

that the incentives of publishing

are not necessarily aligned with the incentives of truth.

You know, my experience, I guess,

has being more pre-social media around the UK press

who sadly conflate profit with purpose

and news with entertainment

and they don't report the news, they create it.

And they've successfully tying fact-based news

into opinion-based gossip

with devastating consequences for the country.

So I know the story all too well.

I lost my mother to this self-manufactured rabidness.

And obviously I'm determined

not to lose the mother to my children to the same thing.