Meghan Markle and Harry: Experts call for Archewell Instagram
British conservative commentator Toby Young lashed out at Meghan and Prince Harry after it emerged Archewell is supporting the UCLA Centre For Critical Internet Inquiry (C2i2). The journalist, who is also general secretary of the Free Speech Union, accused the Duke of aligning with people, whom he alleges are “hard-left political activists”, who are taking free speech away.
He said: “The people the Duke and Duchess of Sussex are funding are hard-left political activists who want to censor anyone who challenges their woke agenda.
“Under the guise of protecting people from ‘hate speech’, they want to cleanse the internet of people they disagree with.
“Does Prince Harry know who he’s gone into business with?”
Mr Young, who co-founded the Free Speech Union in February 2020, added: “As a member of the Royal Family, Harry should be standing up for fundamental British values, such as the right to free speech, not aligning himself with people who want to take that right away from people they disagree with.”
Meghan Markle and Prince Harry are yet to officially launch the Archewell Foundation (Image: GETTTY/ARCHEWELL)
Meghan Markle and Prince Harry’s foundation aims at building better communities online and in real life (Image: GETTY)
He said: “The people the Duke and Duchess of Sussex are funding are hard-left political activists who want to censor anyone who challenges their woke agenda.
“Under the guise of protecting people from ‘hate speech’, they want to cleanse the internet of people they disagree with.
“Does Prince Harry know who he’s gone into business with?”
Mr Young, who co-founded the Free Speech Union in February 2020, added: “As a member of the Royal Family, Harry should be standing up for fundamental British values, such as the right to free speech, not aligning himself with people who want to take that right away from people they disagree with.”
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Meghan Markle and Prince Harry have relinquished their senior royal statuses (Image: GETTY)
This Fund, the website added, “will support the goals and overall mission of C2i2: reimagining technology, championing racial and economic justice in the tech sector, and strengthening democracy through culture-making and public policy work.”
The C2i2 is an interdisciplinary research centre located within the department of information studies at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA).
The goal of its founders, leading UCLA associated professors Dr Noble and Dr Roberts, is to create fairness, justice, equity, and sustainability in relation to our technological engagements.
The academics, who are also research associates at the Oxford Internet Institute, have also researched social media and online harassment.
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Meghan Markle and Prince Harry have been accused of taking free speech away (Image: GETTY)
Meghan Markle and Prince Harry’s Archewell has partnered up with the C2i2 (Image: GETTY)
Dr Noble is also the author of the book Algorithms of Oppression: How Search Engines Reinforce Racism, which researches racist and sexist bias in the algorithm of popular search engines.
In October, she took part in the virtual panel hosted by Prince Harry and Meghan as part of the Time 100 Talks.
During the talks, which focused on the theme ‘Engineering A Better World’, Prince Harry said a conversation on the online space needs to happen to get hold of the “misinformation” and “hate” spread online on a daily basis.
He said: “What is happening in the online world is affecting the world.
Meghan Markle and Prince Harry now live in California (Image: EXPRESS)
“It is not restricted to certain platforms or certain social media conversations or groups.
“This is a global crisis – a global crisis of hate, a global crisis of misinformation, and a global health crisis.”
During the panel, Dr Noble was joined by another expert of the online space, Tristan Harris, the co-founder of the Centre for Humane Technology, another organisation in partnership with the Archewell Foundation.
Prince Harry and Meghan started speaking about the need to build better and more humane communities online in 2020.
In an essay penned for Fast Company, Prince Harry accused social media companies of dividing people and contributing to the crisis of hate, health and truth and asked companies pouring millions in advertising into these organisations’ pockets to ask for change.
Meghan Markle and Prince Harry have stepped down as senior royals (Image: GETTY)
Meghan also spoke about the importance of working towards a kinder online experience for everyone during the Fortune’s Most Powerful Women virtual summit.
She said: “Part of our focus with the Archewell Foundation is to just ensure that we are helping foster healthy positive communities—online and off—for our collective wellbeing.
“It really just includes not contributing to or even clicking on misinformation.
“And when you know something is wrong, reporting it, it, talking about it, ensuring that the facts are getting out there. I think that is one clear tangible thing that everyone could be doing.”
