LONDON: 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 prior to January 6 where I warned him that his platform was allowing a coup to be staged,” Harry said at the at the RE:WIRED tech forum. “That email was sent the day before and then it happened and I haven’t heard from him since.”
Social media sites have come under fire for not doing enough to halt the spread of misinformation and inciteful content, with the storming of the US Capitol by supporters of Donald Trump just one example. Big tech in general has been accused of putting growth and profits ahead of public safety.
Harry also accused other social media sites like Facebook of misleading “billions of people” with COVID and climate change misinformation. He also targeted YouTube, saying many videos spreading COVID misinformation were left up despite violating the site’s own policies.
“And worse, they came to the users via the recommendation tool within YouTube’s own algorithm versus anything that the user was actually 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 and his wife, the Duchess of Sussex, announced in early 2020 that they were quitting royal duties and moving to North America, citing what they said were the unbearable intrusions and racist attitudes of the British media.
Meghan, a former star of the American TV legal drama “Suits,” married Harry, a grandson of Queen Elizabeth II, at Windsor Castle in May 2018.
Prince Harry says he warned Twitter CEO of US Capitol riot
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Prince Harry says he warned Twitter CEO of US Capitol riot
- Prince Harry said he warned the CEO 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
Foreign media group slams Israel for refusing to lift Gaza press ban
- Foreign Press Association expresses 'profound disappointment' with Israeli government’s response to a Supreme Court appeal
- Israel has barred foreign journalists from independently entering the devastated territory since the war started
JERUSALEM: An international media association on Tuesday criticized the Israeli government for maintaining its ban on unrestricted media access to Gaza, calling the move disappointing.
The government had told the Supreme Court in a submission late Sunday that the ban should remain in place, citing security risks in the Gaza Strip.
The submission was in response to a petition filed by the Foreign Press Association (FPA) — which represents hundreds of journalists in Israel and Palestinian territories — seeking immediate and unrestricted access for foreign journalists to the Gaza Strip.
“The Foreign Press Association expresses its profound disappointment with the Israeli government’s latest response to our appeal for full and free access to the Gaza Strip,” the association said on Tuesday.
“Instead of presenting a plan for allowing journalists into Gaza independently and letting us work alongside our brave Palestinian colleagues, the government has decided once again to lock us out” despite the ceasefire in the territory, it added.
Since the outbreak of the Gaza war in October 2023, triggered by an attack on Israel by the Palestinian militant group Hamas, the government has barred foreign journalists from independently entering the devastated territory.
Instead, Israel has allowed only a limited number of reporters to enter Gaza on a case-by-case basis, embedded with its military inside the blockaded Palestinian territory.
The FPA filed its petition in 2024, after which the court granted the government several extensions to submit its response.
Last month, however, the court set January 4 as a final deadline for the government to present a plan for allowing media access to Gaza.
In its submission, the government maintained that the ban should remain in place.
“This is for security reasons, based on the position of the defense establishment, which maintains that a security risk associated with such entry still exists,” the government submission said.
The government also said that the search for the remains of the last hostage held in Gaza was ongoing, suggesting that allowing journalists in at this stage could hinder the operation.
The remains of Ran Gvili, whose body was taken to Gaza after he was killed during Hamas’s 2023 attack, have still not been recovered despite the ceasefire.
The FPA said it planned to submit a “robust response” to the court, and expressed hope the “judges will put an end to this charade.”
“The FPA is confident that the court will provide justice in light of the continuous infringement of the fundamental principles of freedom of speech, the public’s right to know and free press,” the association added.
The Supreme Court is expected to issue a ruling on the matter, though it is unclear when a decision will be handed down.
An AFP journalist sits on the board of the FPA.
