Harry blasts online ‘lies’ sparking chaos on streets as he takes subtle swipe at Elon Musk after Southport riots
PRINCE Harry last night took an apparent swipe at X boss Elon Musk for allowing misinformation on social media.
The Duke of Sussex called for those in "positions of influence" to stop the spread of lies online.
It comes after X was blamed for fuelling the recent riots in England and Northern Ireland.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has clashed with tech tycoon Musk over the unrest and hinted the government will further toughen up social media laws.
Speaking during a four-day trip to Colombia with wife Meghan Markle, Harry said: "What happens online within a matter of minutes transfers to the streets.
"People are acting on information that isn't true. It comes down to all of us to be able to spot the true from the fake.
Read more Royal News
"In an ideal world those with positions of influence would take more responsibility. We are no longer debating facts.
"For as long as people are allowed to spread lies, abuse, harass, then social cohesion as we know it has completely broken down."
Harry was speaking at an event to promote a "responsable digital future".
Meghan told the gathering at Bogotá's EAN University: "It doesn't matter where you live. It doesn't matter who you are.
"Either you personally or someone you know is a victim to what's happening online.
"And that's something we can actively work on every day to remedy."
A wave of violent disturbances were stirred by fake news online claiming the alleged teen knife murderer of three young girls in Southport was a Muslim asylum seeker.
Musk likened Britain to the Soviet Union over its crackdown on riot thugs spreading lies online.
He had replied to a Tommy Robinson tweet falsely claiming Muslims were responsible for the riots saying "civil war is inevitable".
The Sussexes will today meet with students in Bogota before being hosted by the country’s Vice President Francis Marquez for a luncheon.
PIERS MORGAN One word springs to mind when I think of deluded Meghan and Harry 'prancing around' on fake royal tour of Colombia
By Piers Morgan
My all-time favourite theatre review was about a play called: Why?
The critic wrote one word: "Exactly."
I thought of this when I heard that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex will embark on a four-day tour of Colombia this Thursday.
They're going at the invitation of the country's first black Vice President, Francia Marquez, who gushed that the renegade royal duo "have the exceptional opportunity to engage with elders, youth and women who embody the aspirations and voices of Colombians . . . and illuminate Colombia's role as a beacon of culture and innovation".
Meghan and Harry aren't real royals these days.
They don't do any actual duties for the institution which conferred their titles on them — they just line their pockets with cash in America by constantly trashing their families, and the monarchy, in the media.
So, what gives them the right to prance around the world pretending to be proper royals, on quasi- official visits?
There are so many things wrong about this.
First, the laughable hypocrisy of them going to one of the world's most dangerous places — both the UK and US government websites warn travellers to Colombia about the elevated risk of terrorism, kidnapping, rape and robbery — after all of Harry's whiny demands for taxpayer-funded royal security when he comes to the UK to "protect his family".
Second, their decision to go and prop up a Colombian government that's been bedevilled by scandal since coming to power.
President Gustavo Petro, a radical socialist who once fought in a rebel guerrilla group, has seen his foreign minister suspended for alleged cor- ruption, his son Nicolas charged with pocketing cash from drug traffickers meant for his father's presidential campaign, and his brother Juan accused of seeking payments from jailed drug dealers in exchange for judicial benefits from the government.
Petro's also faced recent allegations that he cheated on his wife with a transgender TV host.
As for his Vice President, there's been growing public anger over her hypocrisy at being Colombia's minister for equality while simultaneously using luxury helicopters like taxis and spending millions on a new home where she now lives instead of her official residence.
Opposition politician Miguel Polo Polo posted on X: "Francia Marquez is the biggest fraud in our black community.
"She's been in office for two years and has done nothing, only play the victim and travel around in helicopters."
Sound familiar?
But what I'm most annoyed about is the Sussexes' delusion that they can somehow operate as a rival royal family on the global stage, enjoying all the benefits from that regal status but without any need to fulfil their obligations to their King and country.
It's completely unacceptable, and unsustainable, for estranged members of the Royal Family to conduct official trips like this.
The King should strip Meghan and Harry of their titles that they trade off so cynically, and instruct Palace officials to tell heads of foreign governments that they must stop issuing formal tour invitations of this nature to this greedy two-faced pair who want to have their royal cake and eat it.
Later in the day they will meet with Colombia’s team for the Invictus Games competition that Harry started for wounded veterans.
It came after the couple were met in the capital Bogotá on Thursday by Colombia's vice-president Francia Marquez and her husband Rafael Yerney Pinillo.
They spent around half-an-hour at the vice-president's residence, where they exchanged welcome gifts and were offered tea, coffee and traditional pandebono - Colombian cheese bread.
The Sussexes are being given a full security detail throughout their visit alongside Ms Marquez, who invited the couple to travel to Colombia for what has been dubbed a DIY royal tour.
Ms Marquez said she was inspired to ask Harry and Meghan to visit the country after being moved by their Netflix documentary.
"I saw the Netflix series about their life, their story and that moved me and motivated me to say that this is a woman who deserves to come to our country and tell her story and her exchange will undoubtedly be an empowerment to so many women in the world," Ms Marquez said.
The Sussexes' controversial six-part Netflix show, aired just three months after Queen Elizabeth II's death, laid bare their troubled relationship with the royal family and the struggles which led to their decision to step back from the working monarchy.
Ms Marquez described the Sussexes' trip as a "very special visit" aimed at building bridges and joining forces against cyber-bullying and online digital violence and discrimination, as well as promoting women's leadership in Colombia.
The Sussexes' team has not confirmed how the trip is being funded, whether privately, through Harry and Meghan's Archewell Foundation, by the Colombian government or other means.
The quasi-royal tour, which has many similarities to the programme of an official royal overseas visit, is the Sussexes' second this year, after their three-day visit to Nigeria at the invitation of the West African nation's chief of defence staff.
Harper's Bazaar magazine, covering the trip as the only words pool, said Ms Marquez shared her personal admiration for Harry's late mother Diana, Princess of Wales.
Meghan and Ms Marquez were pictured embracing as they greeted each other warmly, with Ms Marquez clasping Harry's hands in her own as they were introduced.
READ MORE SUN STORIES
The Sussexes were colour co-ordinated style-wise, with the duchess in a navy halterneck top and trousers and Harry in a dark blue suit and light blue shirt.
During the sit-down chat, Ms Marquez said she shared the same ideals and goals as Harry and Meghan amid their campaign to make the digital world safer for children.