UK royal family issues social media guidelines after Markle, Middleton face online abuse

Britain’s royal family has issued guidelines for its social media followers following an onslaught of online abuse directed at Kate Middleton, duchess of Cambridge, and Meghan Markle, duchess of Sussex.

The new guidelines, released Monday, ban “obscene, offensive, threatening, abusive, hateful, inflammatory” comments and those that violate the platforms’ guidelines.

“We ask that anyone engaging with our social media channels shows courtesy, kindness and respect for all other members of our social media communities,” the royal family said in a statement.

{mosads}The royal family said it reserves the right to hide or delete comments and block users that violate the guidelines, as well as send any comments to law enforcement authorities “as we feel necessary.”

The release comes after a number of sexist social media comments directed at the duchesses. The apparent rise in comments follows British tabloid reports that Markle and Middleton have an ongoing feud. Some of the comments directed at Markle have also been racist, according to reports. 

CNN reported in January that Kensington Palace asked social media companies for help in tackling a significant volume of abusive content. The majority of the abusive comments were deemed racist or sexist, and many were directed at one duchess by supporters of the other, according to CNN.

Hello!, a British celebrity magazine, also recently launched an online campaign called #HelloToKindness in response to the online hate about the duchesses.