The British royal family finds itself in the crosshairs of fake news
Automated accounts and AI-manipulated images: the disinformation campaign targeting the British Royal Family
The British Royal Family finds itself having to deal with yet another threat to its reputation. This time, the attack is not coming from within, as was the case earlier this year with the scandal involving former Prince Andrew – stripped of all his titles and honours following his involvement in the Epstein case – but from Vietnam.
The British royal family has in fact been the target of a vast online disinformation campaign, fuelled by thousands of automated, AI-powered accounts (bot farms) based in Vietnam. This has been revealed by an investigation by the British newspaper ‘The Times’.
It would appear that unknown individuals paid for the creation and dissemination of fake news about the British monarchy. They did so using cryptocurrencies, in order to prevent the money from being traced.
Among the many images generated by artificial intelligence, photos have been circulating of King Charles kneeling on a Muslim prayer mat. This hoax is nothing new: as far back as the 1990s, there were rumours of a secret conversion to Islam of the then Prince.
Not only the head of the British monarchy, but also William and his family have come under scrutiny: the conspiracy theory centres on the existence of a fourth child of the Prince and Princess of Wales.
