Prince Harry says he 'warned' the Twitter CEO ahead of the riots in the US Capitol

Prince Harry says he ‘warned’ the Twitter CEO ahead of the riots in the US Capitol.

LONDON (AP) – Britain’s Prince Harry said he warned Twitter’s chief executive before the Jan. 6 Capitol riots that the social media site was being used to spark political unrest in the US capital.

Harry made the comments Tuesday while participating in an online panel on disinformation in California. He said he made his concerns known by email to Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey the day before the riots.

“Jack and I were emailing each other prior to January 6 where I warned him that his platform was allowing a coup to be staged,” Harry said on the RE: WIRED technology forum. “That email was sent the day before and then it happened and I haven’t heard from it since.”

Twitter declined to comment on Harry’s comments.

Social media sites have been criticized for not doing enough to stop the spread of misinformation and inciting content, and the storming of the US Capitol by Donald Trump supporters is often cited as an example. of the consequences of allowing hatred to escalate. Big tech, in general, has been accused of putting growth and profits before public safety.

Harry accused other social media sites like Facebook of misleading “billions of people” with misinformation about COVID-19 and climate change. He also took aim at YouTube, saying that many videos spreading misinformation about COVID-19 were left despite violating the site’s own policies.

“And what is worse, they reached users through the recommendation tool within YouTube’s own algorithm against whatever the user was looking for,” he said. “It really shows that it can be stopped, but they didn’t want to stop it either because it affects their results.”

Harry was listed as a co-founder of his nonprofit Archewell in the tech forum. Earlier this year, he joined the American think tank Aspen Institute as a commissioner to investigate misinformation and misinformation in the media.

Harry and his wife, the Duchess of Sussex, announced in early 2020 that they would be leaving royal duties and moving to North America, citing what they said were the unbearable intrusions and racist attitudes of the British media.