March 25, 2024 - 1:00pm
Meghan Markle was let off the hook this morning as the Telegraph reapportioned blame for the spreading of harmful rumours about the Princess of Wales’s health to the governments of China, Russia and Iran. Today’s front page stated that the three states are “fuelling disinformation” following Kate’s public admission of her cancer diagnosis. No evidence is provided for this claim, though unnamed “senior Government figures” are cited as a source.
The Sino-Russian incursion into the Royal drama is well-timed, as Deputy Prime Minister Oliver Dowden is set to say in Parliament today that Beijing is responsible for cyber-attacks on UK voter data, having accessed the personal details of up to 40 million Britons. The Government is also preparing further sanctions on Xi Jinping’s country. Could Whitehall be using the very real threat of Chinese information warfare to jump to some unsubstantiated conclusions?
Yesterday Imran Ahmed, CEO of the Centre for Countering Digital Hate, claimed that the Princess had been “revictimised” following the release of her recorded message about her health on Friday. Commentators have argued that Kate’s disclosure was forced by speculation over her whereabouts, which was itself kick-started by controversy over a photograph of her and her three children published on Mothering Sunday earlier this month. When multiple prominent news agencies removed the picture from circulation due to fears of “manipulation”, the rumour mill went into overdrive, as online accounts came up with theories about the severity of the Princess’s health and the status of her marriage to Prince William.
The various “Katespiracies” largely originated on social media and were then spread further in the British press, despite the same publications turning to hasty moralising about “shameless trolls” in recent days. Memes about the Princess using a body double for a sighting in Windsor reached millions of accounts on X and TikTok, and then received further coverage in outlets such as the BBC. Until this week, there was no suggestion that foreign states were involved in spreading malicious rumours about Kate.
When public figures such as actress Blake Lively and commentator Owen Jones have apologised for circulating jokey posts before the Princess’s announcement, and papers have “unmasked” TikTok users supposedly behind the theories, there should be little mystery about the source of the Katespiracies, yet the Telegraph has quoted anonymous sources blaming hostile foreign actors without providing any proof. Its claims have now been picked up by numerous other outlets.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Labour leader Keir Starmer have both publicly criticised the scrutiny placed on the Princess of Wales, but no senior figure from either main party has so far put their name to accusations levelled against the Kremlin or CCP. Speaking on a broadcast round this morning, Energy Minister Andrew Bowie refused to confirm the allegations. One Government source told the Daily Mail that these foreign states “don’t necessarily make things up […] What they do is amplify it.” At the time of writing, the Mail’s website features over a dozen articles from today concerning Kate’s diagnosis and earlier online speculation about her.
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No evidence is provided for this claim
The accusation itself is the evidence. That should have become clear during the Covid debacle.
Cold War 2 is on, so let’s consider some things that happened during the first one. Both sides tried to spy on the other for just about every secret, military, political, or otherwise. Both sides produced two sets of propaganda, one for their own citizens and one to be aimed at the other side however they could smuggle it in. Both sides tried to organize and set the citizens of the other side against the government. Both sides tried to sow discontent between allies. Both sides blamed the other for almost everything that happened that impacted either of them. Sometimes they both blamed each other for the same event. A revolt in Prague was the work of CIA spies. A socialist party takeover in Argentina is international communism trying to take over the world. It was ubiquitous enough to seem trite by the time the conflict ended in 1991.
Keep in mind that all this happened before the Internet, social media, and smart phones. Those inventions have now multiplied the amount of information consumed by the public by several orders of magnitude and diffused it among dozens of platforms, channels, media organizations tech companies, and even individual citizens sharing on social media or posting on message boards or in comments like these. Trying to control all of this, or even just keep track of it, is like trying to catch every falling leaf before it hits the ground in an autumn forest on a particularly blustery day. Even with somebody standing at every tree, it’s impossible to catch every single one. Some will make it past even the most diligent.
What that means is thathe number of things that can be plausibly blamed on the other side has skyrocketed. Every hacked server, every security breach, every leaked email, every server attack, can be laid at the feet of the other side’s cyber-warfare division. The chances of ever proving or disproving such claims have fallen to almost nil. Whoever did it would have to admit it, show everyone how, and that might still not convince everyone. Even truly ridiculous nonsense like leaking the royal family’s personal information is fertile ground for governments and any other interest party to cultivate animus towards the other side by blaming it on cyber warfare, which is what this exercise is really about. This is how governments sell war, hot or cold, to the masses and get support for increased military spending and/or various sanctions packages. In the old days, if you wanted to start a war, you had to wait for an Archduke to be assassinated or a boat to be blown up to have an excuse for war, but cyber attacks and hacking occurs every single day. Both sides have an endless supply of excuses to trot out whenever they need the people to rally behind some new policy or sanctions package. Buckle up folks because the second cold war stands to be a lot bumpier and crazier than the first.
Don’t be daft. No one believes that for a minute apart from the media; which seems to comprise wholly of opinion pieces design to fuels chatter on social media and comment sections.
Foreign governments have many ways to infiltrate and disrupt Western societies (Chinese students in universities, and shadow police in Britain, for two examples).
But this is like saying Taylor Swift is a Democrat Party operative.
The trouble with the media – social and supposedly serious – is the children running it. Most of what is passed off as information is unreadable, barely literate drivel by little girls who never left the eighth grade. It’s staggering how little they know about anything other than pop culture.
I wish the princess a swift and full recovery, and her family regain their dignified privacy.