The British Royal Family Rolled Out Guidelines to Combat Hateful Online Trolls

It would appear they have had it: the British royals are making moves to block social media trolls, publishing a set of “social media community guidelines” this week to help aim to make the official Kensington Palace and royal accounts stay hate-free.

Meghan Markle, Duchess of Sussex and Kate Middleton, Duchess of Cambridge have come in for their fare share of online abuse over the past few years. Neither of the Duchesses maintain personal social media accounts, but rather share news and updates through the official royal platforms, which have millions of followers and rack up tens of thousands of likes and hundreds of comments per post.

“We ask that anyone engaging with our social media channels shows courtesy, kindness and respect for all other members of our social media communities,” the new rules ask. Spam, defamation, obscenity, offensive language, threats and explicit material are all off-limits, as are comments that “promote discrimination based on race, sex, religion, nationality, disability, sexual orientation or age.” The royal team is reserving the right to hide, delete, block and report comments and users that deviate from these new norms.

This is not the first time the Palace has taken steps to protect its royals from online abuse. When Prince Harry went public with his relationship with Meghan Markle in 2016, he issued an official statement condemning the “wave of abuse and harassment” experienced.