Posts containing abuse and misinformation were shared widely on social media in the days after the news broke – many of them aimed at Camilla, the Queen’s new wife. Photos of the Duchess of Sussex and posts claiming Queen Elizabeth had been murdered for keeping secrets for politicians or killed by the Covid-19 vaccine were also widely shared, the analysis showed. On TikTok, the UK’s fastest-growing news source, whose user base is dominated by Gen Z, the most-viewed royal-themed clips included those mocking Camilla’s appearance and pitting her against the late Princess Diana of Wales. One video, which has been liked 1.1 million times on TikTok since it was posted a week ago, featured a montage of photos of Camilla and Diana. The captions read: “The woman he cheated with… The woman he cheated with,” prompting heated comparisons between the women in the comments section. A TikTok post targets Camilla, the Queen Consort. Photo: TikTok Others called Camilla a “caumilla” or “wicked witch” and claimed she was a “puppet witch” in the royal family who was “struggling to contain how happy she is” over the Queen’s death. Many were promoted by accounts claiming to be run by young Diana fans. Other accounts shared distorted photos of Meghan, suggesting she had been photographed wearing a T-shirt with the words ‘the queen is dead’. On Twitter, a post containing the image with the caption “Can’t believe Meghan went there” was liked 27,000 times. Back on TikTok, several videos claimed to show Meghan at the Queen’s funeral and criticized her for copying an old Diana outfit. One was liked 3.7 million times – although the funeral, scheduled for Monday, had not yet taken place. The content gives an insight into the nature of some of the information about the royal family that is pushed to those who receive their news on social media. While the Duchess of Sussex has been repeatedly targeted with online abuse, Camilla’s slander is a newer phenomenon among young people. For years after Diana’s marriage to Charles dissolved in 1996, Camilla was branded by some in the media as a “marriage wrecker”, blamed by many for their split and the princess’s subsequent death. The coverage has softened, now focusing on her charity work and portraying her as friendly and approachable. Active communities for Diana’s fans and Camilla’s critics continued to operate, but their reach was largely limited to Facebook groups, which members chose to join. On TikTok, anti-Camilla content – which has grown in popularity since the airing of Netflix drama The Crown – has been widely promoted to young people in recent days. Dr Laura Clancy, a media lecturer at Lancaster University who has studied media representations of the royal family, said the “dripping negative coverage” could have an effect on shaping Gen Z’s views of the royal family in a era being discussed Its role in modern society has intensified. For many, their first exposure to information about the newly married King and Queen could be on social media. “While a lot of it is not explicitly anti-monarchy, it certainly creates a discourse around the monarchy in a way that is not defined by the official narrative,” Clancy said. Researchers from the Center to Combat Digital Hate (CCDH) identified 16 channels on the Telegram messaging app sharing conspiracies, with a combined total of 1,369,444 followers. A TikTok post claiming to show Meghan at her late Majesty’s funeral. Photo: TikTok Another post widely circulated online falsely claimed that before she died, the Queen announced that she had information that could lead to the arrest of former US presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. The claim fits an old conspiracy theory that Hillary Clinton and her husband, Bill Clinton, kill their political opponents, according to fact-checkers for the AFP news agency. While the motivations for posting anti-royalty content vary, doing so can generate big returns for account holders in the form of views, likes, followers and advertising revenue. As with newspapers and websites, royal content can generate traffic from a global audience for social media creators. In the UK, Google searches have been dominated by queries about royals since the Queen’s death, with nine of the top 10 search terms including references to Her Majesty the late or the new King. Some of the accounts posting content against Camilla and Meghan appear to have started doing so specifically to capitalize on the increased interest in the royals. One that previously posted video of the Kardashians focusing on posting hateful content about Camilla just hours after the Queen’s death was announced. Dr Sophie Bishop, an expert on influencer culture and social media algorithms at the University of Sheffield’s management school, said accounts were often rewarded for promoting “huge volumes” of content and that more polarizing posts often performed better. “Even if you are [posting] a video because you criticize it, you’re still reinforcing it,” he said. “It works really well because you have the negative and the positive answer.” Imran Ahmed, from CCDH, added that the spate of posts showed how bad actors seek to “take advantage” of major news events by spreading misinformation and hateful content which is then “amplified” by platforms to boost engagement. “There’s no doubt that platforms are boosting this kind of content because it gets people talking and drives eyeballs, which drives revenue,” he said. Business models risk having a “net effect on an entire generation,” he added. “This is bigger than a discussion about royals. If we see something more often we believe it is more likely to be true. This can shape the minds of young people in a really dangerous way.”
