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For weeks, hundreds of people online have spread conspiracy theories, posted memes and jokes in an attempt to answer one question: Where is Kate Middleton, Princess of Wales?
Kensington Palace repeatedly said Kate was recovering from abdominal surgery planned for January. Still, official responses, as well as an edited image posted on the palace’s social media channels, only fueled more unsubstantiated rumors.
But many people who had participated in the online frenzy felt remorseful after the princess broke her silence on Friday. In a video message addressed to the public, the 42-year-old wife of Prince William, future king of Great Britain, announced that she has been diagnosed with cancer and that she is receiving chemotherapy.
Actress Blake Lively was one of the first to make a statement online apologizing for her now-deleted Instagram post, a Photoshop prank inspired by the doctored Mother’s Day photo posted by Kensington Palace.
“I’m sure no one cares today, but I feel like I have to admit it,” Lively wrote in an Instagram Story. “I made a silly post about the ‘Photoshop fail’ frenzy and oh man, that post has me mortified today. I’m sorry.”
That sentiment dominated much of the reaction on social media, where users said they wished they hadn’t made fun of the princess.
“Yeah, I definitely feel bad for laughing at all the ‘KateGate’ memes. wishing you a speedy recovery,” holy wrote Jokean influencer who has accumulated 3.4 million followers on Instagram, where they publish memes related to current events.
The fervor surrounding Kate’s whereabouts (and subsequent online remorse) has underscored a pattern in which the absence of information provides perfect fodder for creators seeking relevance on algorithm-driven social media platforms.
“Everyone is trying to jump in to get a piece of the viral pie, so to speak,” said Jessica Maddox, assistant professor of digital media technology at the University of Alabama. “When we look at the intersection of conspiracy theories and social media, particularly content creators, everyone wants to have the best opinion, especially when the information is not known.”
But Maddox said he had never seen such remorse in any online conspiracy culture before. Typically, when Internet sleuths are proven wrong, he said, they redouble their efforts by changing targets to further deny new evidence and justify their actions.
Many online said Kate’s news also serves as a reminder to stop making assumptions about people’s personal lives.
It’s a sentiment that has surfaced online before, particularly when celebrities and public figures come under excessive scrutiny or become the subject of unsubstantiated claims by their followers.
Some fans of actor Chadwick Boseman expressed similar regret over commenting on his weight loss when it was revealed after his death that he had been quietly battling colon cancer for years. In April 2023, pop star Ariana Grande spoke about he from the public “concerns“ about her bodysaying “you never know what someone is going through.”
The news about Kate has also highlighted the tension between the public’s desire to know every detail about the royal family and the royals’ desire to keep their health problems private. The princess’s father-in-law, King Charles III, was diagnosed with cancer earlier this year. Charles has canceled public engagements while he receives treatment.
Reshma Saujani, executive director of the nonprofit Girls Who Code, which empowers and equips young women to pursue careers in STEM, said she was “disgusted with the Internet” when she heard Kate’s news.
“I am disgusted with the Internet and even disgusted with myself because I fell into the trap,” Saujani wrote on an Instagram post. “This is a classic example of what we do to women, of how when a woman takes the time to prioritize her health and take care of her family, we question it to the point of coming up with conspiracy theories to explain her self-care. she. “
Now that news about Kate is public, Jessica Myrick, a professor at Pennsylvania State University who studies the psychology of media use, suggested that online conversations surrounding Kate may decrease.
But Myrick doesn’t think social media users will stop creating conspiracy theories online in general, despite expressing some remorse over Kate’s news.
“There aren’t many consequences for sharing memes on social media, and if anything, the likes people got, the laughs, the comments… that’s probably reinforcing and probably means we’ll do it all over again.” “, Myrick. saying.
In her message on Friday, Kate asked people to respect the family’s privacy.
“We hope you understand that as a family we now need some time, space and privacy while I complete my treatment,” she said. “My job has always brought me a deep sense of joy and I hope to return when I can, but for now I must focus on making a full recovery.”