Meghan Markle’s pregnancy branded FAKE and Kate called ‘boring’ - extent of abuse revealed
MEGHAN Markle and Kate, the Duchess of Cambridge are being targeted by vile online trolls posting sexist and racist abuse.
Meghan Markle cradles bump during Smart Works visit
Online thugs have even made violent threats against the two royals. Sick social-media users are repeatedly claiming Meghan’s pregnancy is fake, while attacking Kate and branding her "boring". Kensington Palace staff are spending hours moderating abusive comments aimed at the Duchesses of Sussex and Cambridge.
A source said: "The Palace has always monitored comments but it’s a hugely time consuming thing.
“They can block certain words, but some of it is quite serious. Over the course of last year, with hundreds of thousands of comments, there were two or three that were violent threats.
“You can delete and report and block people and the police have options around particular people.
“It’s something you have to manage because there’s no other way to control it.
Some of it is quite serious. Over the course of last year, with hundreds of thousands of comments, there were two or three that were violent threats
“A lot of hours are being spent reviewing old material and moderating comments under posts.”
Trolls targeted Meghan accusing her of faking her pregnancy to get attention, touching her baby bump too much and being too slim.
Kate and Meghan don’t have public social media accounts, with the Duchess of Sussex closing her accounts a year ago before her marriage to Prince Harry in May, 2018.
But Kensington Palace has 7.1 million Instagram followers and 1.68 million Twitter followers.
And royal fans are using online platforms to wage cyber-space battles and target each other with insults.
One social media poster urged another to “drink bleach” after they disagreed, according to HELLO! magazine.
And hundreds of abusive comments were removed from an Instagram post after Meghan made a surprise appearance at the British Fashion Awards in December.
The source told the magazine: “It follows a Kate vs Meghan narrative and some of the worst stuff is between Kate fans and Meghan fans.
”Arguments about who looks more appropriate, for example, that turn into personal attacks on other users.
“It’s creating a supercharged atmosphere and everyone can join in, but what are the consequences of this?"
HELLO! is now launching a #HelloToKindness campaign to tackle the online abuse.
Social media users can use the tagline across social media and tag @HelloMag