Britain's Prince Harry said that on January 5, he warned Twitter chief executive Jack Dorsey that his platform was allowing a coup to be staged against the US a day later.
Harry continued his feud with the media in an appearance on a panel discussing misinformation, and said the problem pre-dated social media.
“I learnt from a very early age that the incentives of publishing are not necessarily aligned with the incentives of truth,” the Duke of Sussex said.
Asked if he has spoken to Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg or Mr Dorsey, Harry said he warned the Twitter chief that his website was enabling a coup on the eve of the January 6 riots at the US Capitol.
“Jack and I were emailing each other prior to January 6 when I warned him his platform was allowing a coup to be staged. That email was sent the day before," he said.
“And then it happened and I haven’t heard from him since.”
Supporters of former US president Donald Trump stormed the US Capitol building in Washington DC over claims that the election he lost was rigged.
The role social media giants played in enabling the attack is being investigated.
Twitter has been contacted for comment.
Harry, 37, who was listed as the co-founder of Archewell at the Re:Wired summit, works at the Aspen Institute think tank and looks into misinformation and disinformation in the media.
The prince, who lives in Southern California with Meghan and the couple’s two children, said the internet was “being defined by hate, division and lies”.
“That can’t be right, especially for anyone who has children,” Harry told the panel. “We’re allowing this future to be defined by the very here and now; by exactly that which is greed and profit and growth.
“I would hope as human beings, as individuals with the ability of choice and decision-making, they would worry more about people now, the safety of people, but also what this means for the internet, a free internet, but also what it means for the next generation and the generation after that and that and that and that.”
In his latest broadside at the British press, Harry invoked the memory of his mother, Diana, Princess of Wales, and again said his wife, the Duchess of Sussex, was receiving similar treatment.
“They don’t report the news, they create it, and they’ve successfully turned fact-based news into opinion-based gossip with devastating consequences for the country," he said.
“So I know the story all too well. I lost my mother to this self-manufactured rabidness and obviously I’m determined not to lose the mother to my children to the same thing.”
Harry nodded to comments he made in a mental health series in which he appeared this year, where he said: “They won’t stop until she’s [Meghan's] dead."
“It was more of a warning, not a challenge,” he told the panel.
Harry said “the scale of misinformation now is terrifying” and warned that families were being “destroyed” by the problem.
Asked if users should delete their social media accounts, Harry said he and Meghan were not on any platforms and would not return until changes were made.
He said it “simply isn’t true” that the challenge of misinformation “is too big to fix, it’s too big to solve”.
Harry said he and his wife were the targets of a small group of accounts.
“More than 70 per cent of the hate speech about my wife on Twitter could be traced to fewer than 50 accounts,” he said.
Megxit – a word used to described the couple’s departure from royal duties – is a “misogynistic term” that was created by an online troll before it entered mainstream use, Harry said.
Asked about “censorship” and the balance between free speech and possibly harmful content on social media, Harry said: “The free speech argument is somewhat a distraction from the main problem.
“As we’ve already established, this isn’t just a social media problem, it’s a media problem. I’ve grown up learning that news should be sacred ground.”
Harry said it did not take Succession’s fictional media mogul Logan Roy or media magnate Rupert Murdoch to “understand that clickbait is the descendant of targeted advertising”.
He warned in many cases “the truth is paywalled but the lies are free”.
Harry said that while a lie on social media was dangerous, “when that same lie is given credibility by journalists or publishers, it’s unethical and as far as I’m concerned an abuse of power”.
He asked who was holding the media to account.
“It’s kind of become a bit of a digital dictatorship," Harry said.
He suggested the solution could be to invest in and support “honest journalists” who “respect and uphold the values of journalism, not the pirates with the press cards who have hijacked the most powerful industry, the freest industry in the world”.
“Real journalists” have the power to “tackle racism, misogyny, lies, all of it” from “within their own system”, Harry said.
He said he would like to see journalists investigate their “unethical, immoral and dishonest” colleagues.
“We can fix this, we have to fix this, but we need everyone’s help,” Harry said.
The royal said it would be “impossible” to get users to quit social media platforms “given how addictive they are”.
“But it’s about being aware enough to be able to protect yourself from the harms and know when you are being used,” Harry said.
He was joined on the panel by Stanford Internet Observatory technical research manager Renee DiResta and Aspen Commission on Information Disorder co-chair and Colour of Change president Rashad Robinson, for a talk with Wired editor at large Steven Levy.
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
What is the definition of an SME?
SMEs in the UAE are defined by the number of employees, annual turnover and sector. For example, a “small company” in the services industry has six to 50 employees with a turnover of more than Dh2 million up to Dh20m, while in the manufacturing industry the requirements are 10 to 100 employees with a turnover of more than Dh3m up to Dh50m, according to Dubai SME, an agency of the Department of Economic Development.
A “medium-sized company” can either have staff of 51 to 200 employees or 101 to 250 employees, and a turnover less than or equal to Dh200m or Dh250m, again depending on whether the business is in the trading, manufacturing or services sectors.
Venom
Director: Ruben Fleischer
Cast: Tom Hardy, Michelle Williams, Riz Ahmed
Rating: 1.5/5
Evacuations to France hit by controversy
- Over 500 Gazans have been evacuated to France since November 2023
- Evacuations were paused after a student already in France posted anti-Semitic content and was subsequently expelled to Qatar
- The Foreign Ministry launched a review to determine how authorities failed to detect the posts before her entry
- Artists and researchers fall under a programme called Pause that began in 2017
- It has benefited more than 700 people from 44 countries, including Syria, Turkey, Iran, and Sudan
- Since the start of the Gaza war, it has also included 45 Gazan beneficiaries
- Unlike students, they are allowed to bring their families to France
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Ten tax points to be aware of in 2026
1. Domestic VAT refund amendments: request your refund within five years
If a business does not apply for the refund on time, they lose their credit.
2. E-invoicing in the UAE
Businesses should continue preparing for the implementation of e-invoicing in the UAE, with 2026 a preparation and transition period ahead of phased mandatory adoption.
3. More tax audits
Tax authorities are increasingly using data already available across multiple filings to identify audit risks.
4. More beneficial VAT and excise tax penalty regime
Tax disputes are expected to become more frequent and more structured, with clearer administrative objection and appeal processes. The UAE has adopted a new penalty regime for VAT and excise disputes, which now mirrors the penalty regime for corporate tax.
5. Greater emphasis on statutory audit
There is a greater need for the accuracy of financial statements. The International Financial Reporting Standards standards need to be strictly adhered to and, as a result, the quality of the audits will need to increase.
6. Further transfer pricing enforcement
Transfer pricing enforcement, which refers to the practice of establishing prices for internal transactions between related entities, is expected to broaden in scope. The UAE will shortly open the possibility to negotiate advance pricing agreements, or essentially rulings for transfer pricing purposes.
7. Limited time periods for audits
Recent amendments also introduce a default five-year limitation period for tax audits and assessments, subject to specific statutory exceptions. While the standard audit and assessment period is five years, this may be extended to up to 15 years in cases involving fraud or tax evasion.
8. Pillar 2 implementation
Many multinational groups will begin to feel the practical effect of the Domestic Minimum Top-Up Tax (DMTT), the UAE's implementation of the OECD’s global minimum tax under Pillar 2. While the rules apply for financial years starting on or after January 1, 2025, it is 2026 that marks the transition to an operational phase.
9. Reduced compliance obligations for imported goods and services
Businesses that apply the reverse-charge mechanism for VAT purposes in the UAE may benefit from reduced compliance obligations.
10. Substance and CbC reporting focus
Tax authorities are expected to continue strengthening the enforcement of economic substance and Country-by-Country (CbC) reporting frameworks. In the UAE, these regimes are increasingly being used as risk-assessment tools, providing tax authorities with a comprehensive view of multinational groups’ global footprints and enabling them to assess whether profits are aligned with real economic activity.
Contributed by Thomas Vanhee and Hend Rashwan, Aurifer
Dr Afridi's warning signs of digital addiction
Spending an excessive amount of time on the phone.
Neglecting personal, social, or academic responsibilities.
Losing interest in other activities or hobbies that were once enjoyed.
Having withdrawal symptoms like feeling anxious, restless, or upset when the technology is not available.
Experiencing sleep disturbances or changes in sleep patterns.
What are the guidelines?
Under 18 months: Avoid screen time altogether, except for video chatting with family.
Aged 18-24 months: If screens are introduced, it should be high-quality content watched with a caregiver to help the child understand what they are seeing.
Aged 2-5 years: Limit to one-hour per day of high-quality programming, with co-viewing whenever possible.
Aged 6-12 years: Set consistent limits on screen time to ensure it does not interfere with sleep, physical activity, or social interactions.
Teenagers: Encourage a balanced approach – screens should not replace sleep, exercise, or face-to-face socialisation.
Source: American Paediatric Association
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Details
Through Her Lens: The stories behind the photography of Eva Sereny
Forewords by Jacqueline Bisset and Charlotte Rampling, ACC Art Books
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
