The conspiracy theory continues after Princess Kate announced that she has cancer

2024-03-27 00:42:30

The buzz hasn’t stopped after Kate, Princess of Wales revealed she has cancer, as the seemingly endless wave of conspiracy theories continues. Many on the platforms Video background, such as green paper or grass.

Published on: 03/27/2024 – 01:42

6 minutes

Revealed effects Kate, Princess of Wales About her cancer, there were reactions denouncing the exciting speculation that spread on social media about her health, especially on posts whose owners claimed that the British princess had died, but the news did not stop the seemingly endless wave of conspiracy theories.

Kate Middleton (42 years old) received a wave of global sympathy, after she revealed in a video message published on Friday that she was undergoing… For chemotherapy Preventive, in an effort to put an end to the cycle of baseless allegations that were circulated amid her absence from public life for months.

Kensington Palace’s distribution to the media of a royal photo that turned out to be doctored, combined with the culture of secrecy prevalent in the British monarchy, has sparked a lot of speculation online.

But the spread of unsubstantiated theories on social media – including posts full of skull emojis claiming that the princess is dead or in a coma – exemplifies the new nature of information chaos in the age of artificial intelligence and misinformation, which has distorted public understanding of the facts.

These speculations took a dangerous turn last week, when British police were asked to investigate in an attempt to access her confidential medical records.

Writer Helen Lewis wrote in the American magazine “The Atlantic”: “Kate was effectively bullied” following these developments, but “the alternative – that is, the torrent of gossip and conspiracy theories – was worse.”

The British newspaper “Daily Mail” also criticized the campaigns against Princess Kate, asking: “How do all these vile internet trolls feel now?” But it seems that the conspiracy theorists have not said their final word.

“Fraudsters” promoting “fear”

Many on the X and TikTok platforms claimed that the video message Kate posted was created using AI-powered deepfake technology.

Some users posted slow versions of the video to support an unfounded claim that the aforementioned clip had been subjected to digital manipulation, wondering why nothing in the background of the video, such as green leaves or grass, was moving.

Others analyzed her facial movements, also stopping when a dimple that was evident in previous photos did not appear.

One post on the

Misinformation has also spread about cancer itself, with false publications claiming that the disease is not fatal, likening chemotherapy to “poison.”

Also, anti-vaccine activists, as usual, had a share of the discussions.

Many of them did not hesitate to ride the wave of conspiracy theories, speaking without any evidence about Kate being diagnosed with “turbo cancer”, a repeatedly debunked rumor that accuses Covid-19 vaccines of increasing the risk of rapid cancer.

“There is no evidence to support the rapid cancer lie,” said disinformation expert Timothy Caulfield from the University of Alberta in Canada.

He added that conspiracy theorists are “cruel fraudsters who peddle fear and misinformation.”

“seed of doubt”

The spread of these wild theories highlights the increasing scrutiny of facts published online in light of the growth of media misinformation, a trend that is growing due to the public’s lack of trust in institutions and traditional media.

Researchers say this same mistrust has corrupted online conversations about serious issues, including elections, climate and health care. “People do not trust what they see and read,” Karen Douglas, professor of social psychology at the University of Kent, explains to Agence France-Presse.

She adds: “Once the seed of doubt is planted, and people lose trust, conspiracy theories are able to gain more attention.” Rumors surrounding Kate have spread since she withdrew from public life after attending Christmas Mass and undergoing abdominal surgery in January.

The Internet witnessed a torrent of conspiracy theories, after the Princess of Wales admitted that a family photo published on the occasion of Mother’s Day in Britain two weeks ago had been manipulated, a move that prompted international news agencies, including Agence France-Presse, to withdraw it.

Conspiracy theorists fell into a new hole when a video clip was later published showing Kate wandering around the market with her husband. They claimed without any evidence that the princess had been replaced by her replacement.

“When it comes to an institution as old and opaque as the royal family, the lack of public trust creates a huge appetite for scrutiny,” Danagal Young of the University of Delaware told Agence France-Presse.

Social media hashtags about the princess became so popular that many users began using them to promote unrelated posts about topics of much less interest, including human rights violations in India and the Middle East.

Researchers believe that what made this madness worse was the culture of royal secrecy and gaps in the palace’s public relations strategy. “To be honest, the palace could have nipped the situation in the bud much sooner,” Douglas says.