Prince Harry hits out at social media after Southport riots

Prince Harry appeared to criticise Elon Musk following the Southport riots in Britain as he and wife Meghan Markle began their four-day quasi-royal tour of Colombia.

The Duke of Sussex attacked misinformation on social media during a summit on digital responsibility and appeared to blame fake news for sparking the disorder.

Some 80 adults have so far been sentenced following violence which broke out in parts of the UK in the wake of three girls being murdered in Southport on July 29.

And Harry told an audience yesterday: ‘What happens online within a matter of minutes transfers to the streets. People are acting on information that isn’t true.’

He added that a lot of people were ‘scared and uncertain ‘about the potential impact of AI and that ‘education and awareness’ would be key to tacking misinformation.

X founder Musk has come under intense criticism for misinformation on his platform relating to the events, with the world’s richest man even falling victim to it after sharing a fake story about Sir Keir Starmer looking at detainment camps for rioters.

And Harry said: ‘It comes down to all of us to be able to spot the true from the fake. In an ideal world those with positions of influence would take more responsibility.

‘We are no longer debating facts. For as long as people are allowed to spread lies, abuse, harass, then social cohesion as we know it has completely broken down.’

Earlier yesterday, Harry and Meghan were met in Bogota by Colombia’s vice-president Francia Marquez and her husband Rafael Yerney Pinillo.

They spent around half-an-hour at the vice-president’s residence, where they exchanged welcome gifts and were offered tea, coffee and traditional pandebono – Colombian cheese bread.

The Sussexes are being given a full security detail throughout their visit alongside Ms Marquez, who invited the couple to travel to Colombia after watching their Netflix docuseries for what has been dubbed a DIY royal tour.

Harry spoke out about misinformation follow rioting across England in recent weeks which saw police officers attacked, hotels housing vulnerable asylum seekers set alight and shops looted.

Unrest began after false rumours spread on social media claiming the 17-year-old boy arrested over the Southport attacks was a Muslim asylum seeker.

Harry’s comments have also been interpreted as a dig at Musk, who has been criticised by the UK government for spreading fake news.

The Duke said: ‘It’s becoming harder and harder to stem the flow from the source, spotting true from fake comes down to us.

‘One of my biggest worries is that for social media being what it is we will forever be divided, we are debating misinterpretation, and we are being misled, misleading each other.

‘While we are debating and discussing how to solve the problems of digital media a very small group of powerful people are getting richer and richer and that is a fundamental flaw in the system.’

 

He added that ‘every single week we are seeing examples of social cohesion broken down’ because of misinformation and that ‘information integrity is a fundamental right’.

‘This worries me and it makes us all very sad to see people who are acting on information that isn’t true, the Duke said.

Addressing social media abuse more broadly, Meghan said: ‘It doesn’t matter where you live. It doesn’t matter who you are.

‘Either you personally or someone you know is a victim to what’s happening online. And that’s something we can actively work on every day to remedy.’

A translator was at hand, but Meghan showed off her linguistic skills as she spoke in Spanish.

She told a group of young people that they should aim to be ‘self-reliant and not tech-reliant’ while Harry asked about the conversations they have with their families about managing social media and literacy.

Across the next four days, the Sussexes will take in the city of Bogotá before heading off to Cartagena and Cali as part of a ‘cultural and social’ visit.

Harry will also meet members of the Team Colombia squad participating in the Invictus Games, who are gearing up for the 2025 games in Whistler, Canada.

Officials have kept the itinerary a closely guarded secret because parts of the country are described as ‘best avoided’ due to ongoing internal conflicts.

Colombia, like Nigeria where the couple visited in May, is seen as a high risk destination in parts by UK and US officials.

Besides several police cars and vans, armed soldiers were also deployed to protect Harry and Megan in a massive ring of steel.

Roads were blocked off and residents forced on lengthy detours to reach their homes or wait at checkpoints for events to finish so they could carry on.

Answering questions from journalists at a press conference ahead of their arrival, Ms Marquez said she was inspired to ask Harry and Meghan to visit the country after being moved by their Netflix documentary.

‘I saw the Netflix series about their life, their story and that moved me and motivated me to say that this is a woman who deserves to come to our country and tell her story and her exchange will undoubtedly be an empowerment to so many women in the world,’ Ms Marquez said.

The Sussexes’ controversial six-part Netflix show, aired just three months after Queen Elizabeth II‘s death, laid bare their troubled relationship with the royal family and the struggles which led to their decision to step back from the working monarchy.

Ms Marquez described the Sussexes’ trip as a ‘very special visit’ aimed at building bridges and joining forces against cyber-bullying and online digital violence and discrimination, as well as promoting women’s leadership in Colombia.

The Sussexes’ team has not confirmed how the trip is being funded, whether privately, through Harry and Meghan’s Archewell Foundation, by the Colombian government or other means.

The quasi-royal tour, which has many similarities to the programme of an official royal overseas visit, is the Sussexes’ second this year, after their three-day visit to Nigeria at the invitation of the West African nation’s chief of defence staff.

Harper’s Bazaar magazine, covering the trip as the only words pool, said Ms Marquez shared her personal admiration for Harry’s late mother Diana, Princess of Wales.

Meghan and Ms Marquez were pictured embracing as they greeted each other warmly, with Ms Marquez clasping Harry’s hands in her own as they were introduced.

The Sussexes were colour co-ordinated style-wise, with the duchess in a navy halterneck top and trousers and Harry in a dark blue suit and light blue shirt.

During the sit-down chat, Ms Marquez said she shared the same ideals and goals as Harry and Meghan amid their campaign to make the digital world safer for children.

Harry and Meghan visited a local school, the Colegio Cultura Popular, and joined a summit, in collaboration with their Archewell Foundation, about creating a healthier digital landscape.

They spoke to children in a session where the class talked about their favourite and least favourite parts of social media, technology and dealing with life on the internet.

Meghan said the group should aim to be ‘self-reliant and not tech-reliant’ while Harry about asked the conversations they have with their families about managing social media and literacy.

Ms Marquez, a lawyer and human rights and environmental activist, is Colombia’s first black vice-president and serves in the country’s first left-wing government, led by president Gustavo Petro.

A former housekeeper who had her first child at 16, Ms Marquez rose to prominence for her opposition to illegal gold mining in her home province and won a prestigious environmental prize for her work.

She spearheaded a 10-day, 350-mile march of 80 women from La Toma to the nation’s capital, resulting in the removal of all illegal miners and equipment from her community.

Ensuring the couple’s security will be a high priority during their stay. The Foreign Office warns against all but essential travel to certain parts of Colombia, with kidnapping rates remaining high.

It also describes the country as ‘seriously afflicted by conflict’ with a resurgence in violence in parts of Colombia despite the peace agreement with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) movement to end the civil war.

The Duke has meanwhile maintained it is ‘still dangerous’ for Meghan to return to the UK.

He is said to be missing the private funeral of his uncle Lord Fellowes – husband of Diana’s sister Lady Jane Fellowes – in Norfolk later this month due to his security fears.

Harry lost a High Court challenge against the Home Office in February over a decision to change the level of his personal security when he visits the UK, but he has been given the green light to appeal.

During the case, the court was told Harry believes his children cannot ‘feel at home’ in the UK if it is ‘not possible to keep them safe’ there and that he faces a greater risk than his late mother, with ‘additional layers of racism and extremism’.

Harry and Meghan stepped down from the working monarchy in 2020 and no longer travel at the request of the UK Government on official overseas royal visits, when travel costs would have usually been met by the taxpayer-funded Sovereign Grant.