Britain’s rivals ‘spread conspiracy against Kate’ after cancer diagnosis

The government is reportedly concerned that Britain’s adversaries are deliberately spreading false information about the Princess of Wales to “destabilize the country”.

Kate had been out of the public eye since her scheduled surgery in January, becoming a source of online rumors, speculation and conspiracy theories until the princess revealed she had been diagnosed with cancer in a touching personal video.

The 42-year-old princess said she needed to recover from the surgery before starting “preventive chemotherapy” on the advice of her medical team. The news is another cruel blow for the royal family, with King Charles III and the future queen battling cancer at the same time.

While Kate’s video message won widespread public sympathy, baseless conspiracies about the veracity of the Princess’s statements and the cancer itself continue to spread, with online commentators questioning the efficacy of chemotherapy or blaming Kate’s diagnosis on Covid- 19 vaccines.

Now Whitehall officials are increasingly concerned that state adversaries such as China, Russia and Iran may be involved in the rise of conspiracy theories surrounding the princess’ health on social media. telegraph the report said.

An unnamed Whitehall source told the newspaper: “Part of the modus operandi of hostile countries is to destabilize – whether that undermines the legitimacy of our elections or other institutions.”

Just months before an expected general election, Deputy Prime Minister Oliver Dowden will raise accusations of Chinese interference in British democracy in parliament on Monday.

Downing Street is said to be preparing new sanctions against Chinese individuals involved in state-backed interference in Britain’s democratic process, including a cyberattack that resulted in the personal information of millions of voters being leaked.

Ministers are due to release details on Monday of a hack that targeted the Electoral Commission and 43 people, including MPs and peers.

The British government set up a taskforce last year to protect the UK’s democratic integrity from threats from foreign interference, with responsibilities including tackling the spread of disinformation on social media.

“Tackling this issue is at the heart of the task force’s work,” telegraph government sources were quoted as saying.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on Friday led the charge in condemning trolls on social media for targeting the princess over her disappearance from public view.

Sunak said in a statement to

Imran Ahmed, chief executive of the Center to Combat Digital Hate, said the princess was “victimized again by being blamed for not coming out immediately”.

“When you have a young lady, the Princess of Wales, suffering a medical emergency, you see people pouring into conspiracy theories and you see those conspiracy theories amplified on social media platforms and pushed to hundreds of Thousands of people,” he told the BBC.

“I think social media dehumanizes the way we act and forces people to talk about very personal things.

“Of course we’ve also seen the impact it has had on our society, how quickly it has been embraced by millions of people and how damaging it has been to the royal family itself.”

Former royal adviser Paddy Haverson said the speculation and pressure surrounding the princess’ health was “the worst I have ever seen”.

Last week, the British embassy in Ukraine was forced to deny rumors of the king’s death after Kremlin-approved state media channels, some with millions of followers on social media, began spreading false news.

The first false claim appeared on Telegram, when a Photoshopped statement bearing the Buckingham Palace logo read: “The following statement was issued by Royal Communications. The King passed away unexpectedly yesterday afternoon.”

“We would like to inform you that the news about the death of King Charles III is false,” the embassy clarified on social media.