For weeks, hundreds of people online spread conspiracy theories, posted memes, posted jokes, and tried to answer one question. The question is, “Where is Kate Middleton, Princess of Wales?”
Kensington Palace has reiterated that Kate is recovering from abdominal surgery scheduled for January. Still, official responses and edited images posted on the palace's social media channels only further fueled the unsubstantiated rumors.
However, many who were taking part in the online frenzy noticed the princess expressing regret after breaking her silence on Friday. The 42-year-old wife of Britain's future King Prince William announced in a video message to the nation that she has been diagnosed with cancer and is undergoing chemotherapy.
Actor Blake Lively has issued a statement online apologizing for a now-deleted Instagram post that was a Photoshopped joke inspired by a doctored Mother's Day photo published by Kensington Palace. He's the first one.
“I know no one cares today but I feel like I need to acknowledge this,” Lively wrote on her Instagram Story. “I took advantage of the “Photoshop fails'' craze and made a stupid post, but alas, that post made me feel really bad today. I'm sorry.''
These sentiments dominated the reaction on social media, with users saying they wished they hadn't made fun of the princess.
“Well, I definitely feel bad laughing at the 'Kategate' meme. I wish her a speedy recovery,” wrote the 3.4 million followers on Instagram, where she posts memes related to current events. Saint Hawks, an influencer who collects, wrote.
The frenzy over Kate's whereabouts, and the ensuing online remorse, underscores a pattern in which a lack of information feeds creators seeking relevance on algorithm-driven social media platforms.
“Everyone is trying to get a piece of the viral pie, so to speak,” says Jessica Maddox, assistant professor of digital media technology at the University of Alabama. “When you look at the intersection of conspiracy theories and social media, everyone wants to know the hottest views, especially content creators, especially when they're not well-informed.”
But Maddox said he had never seen such remorse in online conspiracy culture. Typically, when internet sleuths are proven wrong, they double down, denying new evidence even more and moving the goalposts to justify their actions, she said.
Many online said Duchess Kate's news was also a reminder to stop making assumptions about people's private lives.
This is a sentiment that has surfaced online in the past, especially when celebrities and public figures have been subject to undue scrutiny or unsubstantiated claims by their supporters.
Some fans of actor Chadwick Boseman expressed similar regret for comments about his weight loss after his death, when it was revealed that he had been secretly battling colon cancer for years. Some people expressed their intentions. In April 2023, pop star Ariana Grande said of the public's “concerns” about her body: “You never know what someone is going through.”
The Duchess of Cambridge's news also highlighted the tension between the public's desire to know every detail about the royal family and the royal family's desire to keep their health struggles private. The princess' father-in-law, King Charles III, was diagnosed with cancer earlier this year. Charles canceled his official duties while undergoing treatment.
When Reshma Saujani, CEO of Girls Who Code, a nonprofit organization that empowers and supports young girls to pursue careers in STEM, heard of Kate's death, she said, “The Internet… “I felt disgusted with it,” he said.
“I'm fed up with the internet and fed up with myself for falling into its trap,” Saujani wrote in an Instagram post. “This is a classic example of what we do for women: when a woman prioritizes her health and takes time to care for her family, we take care of her self-care. That's how you extrapolate it to the point where you come up with a conspiracy theory to explain it.”
Jessica Myrick, a professor at Pennsylvania State University who studies the psychology of media use, suggested that the online chatter surrounding Kate could subside after the news became public.
But despite showing some remorse over Kate's news, Myrick doesn't think social media users in general will stop generating conspiracy theories online.
“The impact of sharing a meme on social media isn't so much. Rather, it's the likes, laughs, comments that people get…it's probably reinforcing and probably means we're going to do it all again.” Deaf,” Myrick says. He said.
In a message on Friday, Duchess Kate asked the public to respect the family's privacy.
“I hope you understand that as a family, I need some time, space and privacy until I finish my treatment,” she said. “My work has always brought me deep joy, so I look forward to returning when I can, but right now I must focus on making a full recovery.”
