The information war between the royal family and the English press is not new. But in the era of social networks and deepfakes, the chaotic management of communication around Kate Middleton's state of health following the announcement of her cancer has sparked a deluge of conspiratorial rumors and is damaging the image of the princess. Royalty is at a turning point in terms of communication.
On September 9, 2024, the official Instagram account of the Prince and Princess of Wales broadcast a video announcing the end of Kate Middleton's chemotherapy. Directed by Will Warr, an advertising executive known for his work for brands like Uber Eats, Tesco and Puma, this video immediately “broke” the Internet with several million views in a few hours. Beyond signs of sympathy, this communication illustrates a life under the constraint of social networks and fake news.
It reveals very private images of Kate, filmed in Norfolk in the countryside. Kate in a bucolic setting presents herself as a survivor, a standard-bearer in the fight against cancer drawing strength from the love of her family, her fans and her special connection with nature. Although Kate has become a fixture on social media, with more than 54 million followers on her accounts, the royal family generally remains reserved. The maxim “Never explain, never complain” is still in use. But in the age of fake news and information overload, this strategy is becoming increasingly difficult to maintain and Kate's illness has given rise to an intense battle on social media.
The age of disinformation and the decline of institutional communication
The video where she announces her cancer has been viewed more than 5 million times. After the announcement, engagement rates on royal posts jumped 300%. At the same time, photos from Mother's Day, retouched by AI, and silence about her state of health have fueled all kinds of conspiracy rumors. Kate's prolonged disappearance was picked up by the hashtag #WhereIsKate. The royal family responded with #WeLoveYouCatherine, which was used more than 500,000 times in 24 hours.
What lessons can be learned from this chaotic social marketing where suffering in private is seen as a mistake and not revealing one's medical records is a crime of lèse-majesté?
In The Disinformation AgeBennett and Livingston (2020) describe how digital platforms have disrupted public communication, ushering in an era where misinformation has become ubiquitous and particularly difficult to control. These disruptive communications are penetrating the dominant public spheres that were once the institutional gatekeepers of all communication. However, the information war between the royal family and the English press is not new. From Diana's drama to Harry's setbacks, many researchers have looked into this press which was very quickly converted to the dictatorship of the click and the attention economy. Several stages in the degradation of information can be distinguished:
Step 1, time for sensationalism
Stage 1 corresponds to the 1980s-1990s where the place reserved for celebrity culture and gossip takes precedence over serious and documented content. In 1998, only 8% of editorials in the Sun a you Mirror could be considered to deal with politics or economics, the rest being devoted to gossip or sports.
Step 2, hunt for clicks
Stage 2 appears in the 2000s during which user-generated content begins to compete with that of the paparazzi. Mobile is becoming widespread and the attention economy cultivated by journalism on the Internet fuels an uninterrupted flow of content whose sole economic objective is to serve as a support for digital advertising. Social networks amplify this phenomenon.
Stage 3, the AI era
Stage 3 began in the 2010s. AI celebrity image generation took off with GANs (generative adversarial networks), a technology that pits an image generator against a discriminator to create realistic visuals. Deepfakes use GANs, and superimpose a face (often that of a celebrity) onto an existing video in a very realistic way. The facial expressions, voice, movements of the real person are perfectly imitated. The boundary between the real and the manufactured no longer exists.
The era of deepfakes
This era of deepfakes is the latest stage of disinformation which makes an effective social strategy almost impossible, namely how to best use your image to promote a brand or a cause, manage a community of fans, obtain the maximum engagement on your publications. Kate Middleton's efforts to maintain a positive image collide with what Bennett and Livingston call “disinformation architecture,” a systemic dynamic where malicious actors use technology to amplify doubt, suspicion, and blur boundaries. between true and false.
The problem is that Kate herself resorted to it. The Mother's Day photo and even the video of her cancer announcement were allegedly retouched by AI. Old photos of the Queen are subject to the same verification process using AI detection tools available on the internet and accessible to everyone. This use by the Royal Family of AI marks the end of institutional communication and the various narratives successfully developed until then by the monarchy based on tradition and family.
The “Privacy Paradox” (being seen and remaining hidden) or the unstoppable monetization of the image
The second aspect of disinformation lies in the overmonetization of every public appearance. The monarchy is criticized for the “Privacy Paradox” (being seen and remaining hidden): claiming privacy while exposing itself and taking advantage of it in terms of popularity. The problem is that it is the media, social networks, brands and other influence platforms that benefit the most.
Concerning digital advertising, an analysis carried out on the Social Listening tool TalkWalker shows that in an average week, the hashtag #KateMiddleton was used 4,500 times and reached almost 130 million people. One of the signs that Kate's image is damaged by these multiple controversies is confirmed by the sentiment analysis carried out, a method which consists of using AI tools to identify and evaluate the emotions or opinions expressed in a text, such as positive, negative or neutral. 438 influencers earn their living thanks to this hashtag, which brings together a community around a specific subject, thus increasing their visibility and attracting the interest of brands for collaborations.
Among them, 93% are active on X and more than 5% on YouTube. It is on this network that monetization would be the strongest with 4,400 euros per month per influencer earned thanks to the “Kate Middleton” theme. Kate is also an influencer whose particularity is to receive nothing in return.
Reiss, LK Bennett and Zara saw sales increase by 200% after Kate wore their designs. The clothes she chooses sell on average five times faster. Kate's annual economic impact on British fashion is estimated at €1.2 billion. The pressure for her to return and continue her work as a fashion ambassador is therefore particularly strong.
Kate Middleton's social strategy: a fragile model
Its social strategy was previously based on 5 pillars: popular target, positioning in the world of fashion, proximity, ability to generate engagement, adoption of codes taken from the cinema and entertainment industry. But one last rule had been forgotten: absolute control does not exist. His humanity becomes a product like any other. It's not just the death of privacy, it's the transformation of every personal moment into content to consume, share, and analyze. And this model tolerates neither pause nor silence.
Royalty is, therefore, at a turning point in terms of communication. Its strategy must now be based on agility in terms of crisis management, a revolution concerning the transparency of information, the attachment to an authenticity not mediated by screens. In a world where every image can be falsified, the sincerity of the moments captured and the veracity of the information shared become crucial values to restore credibility to public communication. An ethical commitment on its refusal to use images or films generated by AI could restore lost trust. Finally, returning to the field and increasing the number of authentic visits with “real people” could, for a time, silence the rumors. Last rule, accept that silence is a luxury that even princesses cannot afford.
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