Prince William accuses social media giants of failing to protect children from 'bile and hate'

The Duke of Cambridge has accused the world’s technology giants of failing to protect children from the hate and bile of social media, as he warns they are out of their depth in tackling the negative side of their platforms.

The Duke, who has spent months working with web companies to try to tackle cyberbullying, condemned the “defensive” attitude of social media firms in refusing to accept their role in the spread of hate speech, fake news and the torment of young people in their own homes.

In an unprecedented intervention, the Duke, a father of three, said the firms were failing to take seriously the real fears of parents whose children faced “supercharged” bullying online, in a situation already “leaving some children to take their own lives when they felt it was inescapable”.

The speech, his most significant and strongly-worded to date, was made at the BBC as part of an update on his Cyberbullying Taskforce. It follows months of frustration for the Duke who has been attempting to convene technology companies and platforms including Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, Youtube, Apple and Google.

The Duke said he had sought to gather them together to tackle the pressing issues facing the internet  after realising fellow parents were "making up the rules as we went along” when it came to online safety.

But, he suggested today, he had been left surprised and disappointed by a lack of will to collectively confront the potentially life-threatening problems.

“What I found very quickly though was that the sector did not want to own this issue,” he said. “I heard doubts being cast about the scale of the problem.

“I was told that companies were already doing plenty and just needed more credit for it.

“I saw denials issued about the prevalence of young children on some of our most popular platforms.

“And crucially I heard over and over again that a collective approach – across the industry, with charity partners, ISPs, researchers, and parents – just wouldn’t work.”

He added: “As this list of unintended consequences grows, a culture of defensiveness is undermining the sector’s relationship with the public.”

Admitting he is “worried though that our technology companies still have a great deal to learn about the responsibilities that come with their significant power”, the Duke said: “I am very concerned though that on every challenge they face - fake news, extremism, polarisation, hate speech, trolling, mental health, privacy, and bullying - our tech leaders seem to be on the back foot.

“Their self-image is so grounded in their positive power for good that they seem unable to engage in constructive discussion about the social problems they are creating.

“The journey from inventors in the student dormitory to the leaders of some of the most valuable companies on earth has been so fast that they may struggle to understand that their incentives have changed.

“The noise of shareholders, bottom lines, and profits is distracting them from the values that made them so successful in the first place.”

In careful but unsparing criticism, the Duke spelled out the optimism he and his peers had felt at the dawn of the age of social media, sharing their life and joys with old friends and new around the world.

But, he said: “We all have to acknowledge, though, that much of the early optimism and hope of social media is giving way to very real concern, and even fear about its impact on our lives.

“We have seen that the technology that can allow you to develop an online community around a shared hobby or interest can also be used to organise violence.

“The platform that can allow you to celebrate diversity can also be used to cocoon yourself in a cultural and political echo chamber.

“The new ways we have to access news from across the world are also allowing misinformation and conspiracy to pollute the public sphere.

“The tools that we use to congratulate each other on milestones and successes can also be used to normalise speech that is filled with bile and hate.

“The websites we use to stay connected can for some create profound feelings of loneliness and inadequacy.

“And the apps we use to make new friends, can also allow bullies to follow their targets even after they have left the classroom or the playing field.

“It is this issue of cyberbullying that we have come here to discuss today. As we do, however, I believe it is crucial that we see the connections across all of these challenges.”

In a rallying call to companies to now come together to “fight back against the intolerance and cruelty that has been brought to the surface by your platforms”, the Duke urged them to “choose to do good and be successful” by putting the safety of children first.

Saying tech firms currently seem “resigned to a posture with governments and regulators that will be defined by conflict and discord”, he added: “It does not have to be this way.”

The Duke was speaking at the BBC at the introduction of their KOW app, currently in development and intended to help protect children from sending and receiving inappropriate or worrying content on their phones and tablets. 

The Cyberbullying Taskforce is already working on a "Stop, Speak, Support" campaign in Britain's schools.