Meghan Markle, Prince Harry, Kate Middleton and Prince William are among royals who are the subject of negative hashtags that Twitter’s algorithm encourages users towards, Newsweek has found.
The social media platform suggests possible search terms based on what content other users have been viewing.
However, Christopher Bouzy, of Bot Sentinel, told Newsweek this has given anti-fan communities a means to drive hostile content about the royals to the surface.
Some of the hashtags and search terms suggested by Twitter’s search box to Newsweek have been problematic to the point they could not be printed by a respectable news outlet, including conspiracy theories about the mental health of royal children.
Others contained allegations that could be actionable for libel if printed by a mainstream media company, Newsweek has been told.
Bouzy said: “The algorithms, they believe that this is what people want to see. When you put in ‘Meghan’ or ‘Harry,’ the algorithm, it fills out the rest for you and more than likely its going to be something negative My opinion is it has to be fixed.
“It’s a significant problem that folks like myself have been screaming into the void about.”
