VLADIMIR Putin’s troll farms are fuelling hateful conspiracy theories against the British Royals in a bid to spark chaos, a top expert has warned.
Ex-White House information chief Theresa Payton says the wild theories about The King and Princess Kate are likely a result of Kremlin propaganda.
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And she added it is no coincidence that they have stepped up after Charles spoke in support of Ukraine a few weeks ago.
The tyrant dictator, 71, is leveraging disinformation and propaganda from his “authoritarian playbook” in an attempt to “sow confusion and concern among the public,” warned Payton.
Multiple Russian media outlets spread the hurtful fake news yesterday that King Charles III had died – even publishing a completely fabricated statement from Buckingham Palace.
Russian outlets also peddled conspiracy theories on social media as they baselessly cast doubt on the authenticity of The Sun’s exclusive footage of Princess Kate and Prince William.
It is believed more than half of Brits have been exposed to conspiracy theories about Princess Kate.
Payton said the Russians have likely helped to fuel the cruel online storm which has been circulating around the Royal Family in recent weeks.
Putin is known to have an arsenal of so-called “trolls farms” at his disposal – designed to hijack discussions of Twitter/X, TikTok, Facebook and Telegram.
They are designed to sow discord in the West and manipulate public opinion.
And their activities have continued since Putin began his vile war in Ukraine.
It has been a particularly painful few months for the Royal Family as Charles battles cancer and Kate recovers from surgery.
Russia’s false claim at the King saw the hateful fake news spread violently across social media.
The British embassy in Moscow was even forced to issue a statement saying: “Reports of the death of King Charles III of Great Britain are fake!”
Payton – the first female White House Chief Information Officer – said Russian propaganda will be seeking to target the stability and integrity of the monarchy.
She believes that, King Charles, who spoke in support of Ukraine during the second anniversary of Russia‘s illegal invasion of the country, is a target of such troll farms.
The expert told The Sun: “It is not lost on me that about three weeks ago, King Charles spoke in support of Ukraine.
“That would put King Charles directly in the sights of the Russian troll farms.”
Speaking on the second anniversary of the invasion, the King praised the “heroism and valour” of Ukrainians following the “unprovoked attack on their land”.
The Sun last week called on the world to “Lay Off Kate” after she was criticised for editing her Mother’s Day family photo – before vile fake tales started spreading.
Russian state media and online channels have today shared unfounded claims that the footage of Kate and William is fake – running articles headlined “Kate isn’t real.”
The video, showing the couple happily strolling outside a farm shop in Windsor over the weekend, has sparked wild conspiracy theories – from William walking side to side with a body double to the clip being created through artificial intelligence.
Multiple outlets linked to the Russian state picked up the fake news – which then widely spread across social media.
Meanwhile, Elena Sotnikova, former editor-in-chief of Russian Elle women’s magazine, prompted the conspiracy theory – claiming it is not Kate Middleton on the video and insists the Royals are using body doubles.
Ironically rumours about the use of body doubles by Vladimir Putin have been swirling for years.
THE Sun last week led the way in defending Princess Kate when she was being criticised from all angles over the edited photo saga.
Social media trolls were quick to attack the future Queen over her editing of a Mother’s Day family picture.
Media critics also weighed in with their opinions alongside the idiotic conspiracy theorists, but The Sun stood alone in saying: Lay off Kate.
Our front page blasted: “The furious attacks on the future Queen over her photoshopping of a Mother’s Day family picture are not just absurd.
“They now look like a bullying campaign against a devoted mum, recovering from a serious operation, who simply wanted to offer the public a perfect portrait of her and her kids.
“She meant well, made a mistake and fessed up. Fair enough.
“Now leave her alone to get over her op.”
While another major glossy media outlet called Spletnik published a story today with the headline: “Kate isn’t real.”
Theresa said that Russian propaganda holds significant influence over the spread of rumours about the British royals – and the sick stunts show the power of such disinformation campaigns.
“There is a real possibility that Russian disinformation and troll farms are wielding significant influence over the spread of rumours about the British Royals,” the cyber expert said.
“By disseminating false narratives through various Russian news sites, social media channels, and bots, the troll farms sow confusion and concern among the public.
King Charles spoke in support of Ukraine three weeks ago. That would put King Charles directly in the sights of the Russian troll farms
Theresa Payton
“The recent instance of false reports claiming the death of King Charles III due to cancer complications is a stark reminder of the power of such disinformation campaigns.”
According to the ex-White House information officer, such false rumours against the British Royals can deeply unsettle the public.
More than half the people in the UK have been exposed to conspiracy theories about Kate.
The poll, carried out by YouGov, showed 51% of people have seen discussion of theories about her absence online.
Meanwhile, 44% said they had not, while 5% were unsure.
“Such misinformation not only erodes public trust but also breeds uncertainty about the stability and integrity of the monarchy. This could affect national morale and sentiment.”
Putin has been long using such tactics to gain political advantages – both inside and outside his iron-gripped empire.
For years, Russia has been accused of leveraging disinformation, propaganda, and cyber warfare tactics to manipulate public opinion.
Associate Professor of Computer Science and Engineering at the University of Notre Dame, Walter J. Scheirer points out that the Royal Family is the perfect example as “it’s easy for anybody to generate material that will capture the public’s attention because there’s already a controversy.”
Scheirer, the author of A History of Fake Things on the Internet, told The Sun: “I think these days it’s a bit different from 20 years ago, because now anybody can write stories about this right.
“And so that means you have the public writing potentially fake stories about this.
“You have state-based actors who can also do this. But I think what’s tricky is the provenance of this material.
“It’s the Internet right? In many cases these things are posted anonymously right, or under pseudonyms.
“They may appear to be coming from one part of the globe, but they’re really being posted from somewhere else.
“It’s not hard to kind of use proxy servers and bounce around
the Internet to post content.
“It’s very difficult, if not impossible, to get back to the original source. And that’s the way the Internet works.”
The Russian conspiracy theories come after tyrant Putin cruised to an easy presidential victory on Monday as he was re-elected with a record of over 87 per cent of the vote.
The predictable outcome means Putin is set to embark on a new six-year term that will see him overtake Josef Stalin and become Russia‘s longest-serving leader for more than 200 years if he survives it.
RUSSIAN media have been at the centre of a storm of wild conspiracy theories about the Royals.
After spreading misinformation that King Charles is dead, Kremlin trolls went on to suggest that Kate Middleton is not the woman who appears on Will’s side in a video showing them walking around Windsor.
But this is not the first time Russia uses fake reports to spread chaos.
Back in 2020 Russian media bizarrely claimed that the British-made vaccine distributed by AstraZeneca- turns people into monkeys.
It was thought to be a ploy to promote its own Putin-backed Sputnik V vaccine.
And with the invasion of Ukraine, Moscow’s propaganda machine continued its work trying to spread fake news.
In 2022, Russia claimed the UK “staged” horrifying scenes of carnage in Bucha to blame Vladimir Putin.
The Kremlin has denied the massacre happened, with a state TV report making twisted claims that it was was “staged” and amounted to “provocation” which was “done by professionals, probably British”.
And a few months later a deepfake video of Ukrainian president Zelensky talking of surrendering to Russia, was circulating on social media.
The video – an obvious fake- showed President Zelesky behind a podium telling his troops to surrender.
The real Ukrainian President described it as a “childish provocation”.
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