Kate Middleton, Meghan Markle Online Abuse From Trolls Inspires #HelloToKindness Campaign

The trolls attacking Kate Middleton and Meghan Markle online have prompted a new campaign called #HelloToKindness.

In a clip shared on Twitter, Emily Nash talked about the online abuse that the Duchess of Cambridge and Duchess of Sussex received from their bashers. According to the royal correspondent, those vile comments have crossed the line into “racist,” “sexist” and sometimes “threatening” territory, so she and others decided to take a stand.

“We came up with the #hellotokindness Campaign after noticing a big increase in abusive, sexist, racist and threatening comments left under our @hellomag and personal social media posts — particularly any regarding the Duchess of Cambridge and the Duchess of Sussex…,” she wrote.

Nash added that the abuse doesn’t only affect Middleton and Markle but most women as the comments quickly become hate-filled threads. Although one can block, delete and report a user, this effort would not suffice considering the growing numbers of online trolls.

“It’s not acceptable to constantly pit women against each other,” she added. “And it's not acceptable to attack other users just because they disagree with you.”

Online abuse has an impact on a person’s mental health and the magazine wants to keep their platform a positive and safe place. Nash’s post has since received different reactions from her followers.

One follower agreed with Nash. Shirnette Hodge admitted that she’s a fan of the Duchess of Sussex, but it doesn’t mean that she has to post ill messages directed at the Duchess of Cambridge.

A different user questioned Middleton being the subject of the same trolls. According to Patricia Jones, she has only seen abuse toward the Duchess of Sussex. She also pointed out that those were caused by Nash’s colleagues and Middleton’s fans.

On the other hand, user Bantu/Khoisan wasn’t impressed with Nash’s campaign. According to her, the issue has been going on for at least three years for Markle and it seems that the journalist has just noticed it today. So, she decided not to participate and urged other people to just ignore it.

Another user thinks that it’s best to not compare Middleton and Markle by not putting the two in the same article. However, the same user also said that magazines do it all the time.

What can you say about the new campaign? Share your thoughts below.