If that was the aim, it certainly has not worked.
"Do you believe this is Kate Middleton?" is the caption of one TikTok video about the pictures that has been viewed 3.5m times. "Not Kate. Nooo," reads one of the almost 2,000 comments. "I'm not even big on the royals and I knew it wasn't her," says someone else. Another video, titled "Where is #katemiddleton? Cause that's not here! [sic]", has 1.1m views.
Ten days after Kensington Palace released a photograph of Catherine with her children - which it later was forced to admit had been altered - the enormous scale of the conspiracies it has fed and generated is becoming apparent.
The Princess's whereabouts, and the more outlandish theories attached to that question, have been the subject of frenzied online speculation around the world, as illustrated by data seen by the Guardian. According to BrandMentions, a company that monitors the spread of hashtags and keywords online, over the past seven days the hashtags #whereiskate #katebodydouble and #katemiddleton have been used on social media accounts and webpages with a total reach of 400 million people worldwide, as measured by factors such as account followers.
The hashtags were mentioned 5,400 times, with Instagram accounting for more than eight out of 10 mentions, followed by Tik Tok which accounted for 5% of mentions. Posts with those hashtags have been shared 2.3m times and liked 2.2m times.
Bu hikaye The Guardian dergisinin March 21, 2024 sayısından alınmıştır.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Giriş Yap
Bu hikaye The Guardian dergisinin March 21, 2024 sayısından alınmıştır.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Giriş Yap
Haaland hands City final-day advantage
Is there a surer bet in football than Pep Guardiola's Manchester City doing what they need to do - in other words, win and keep winning - when they have the Premier League title within their grasp?
Wiegman laments summer scheduling of Euro 2025 qualifiers
Sarina Wiegman said navigating preparations for England's Euro 2025 qualifiers in June and July had been \"very challenging\", with the competitive fixtures scheduled for the summer break between seasons.
Woods, heavy weather and PIF talks make busy backdrop at Valhalla
On one of the more chaotic days in the buildup to a major championship, thunderstorms disrupted practice sessions, interviews were cancelled and then reinstated, Tiger Woods said he may not have time to become the Ryder Cup captain and shock news emerged that Rory McIlroy has filed for divorce.
Real pay grows at fastest rate in two years despite jobless surge
The level of real pay for UK workers is rising at its fastest rate in more than two years despite a cooling of the labour market that has led to rising unemployment and falling job vacancies, the latest official figures show.
Cohen tells court of fake invoices to cover up hush-money payment
Donald Trump's ex-lawyer Michael Cohen testified in a Manhattan court yesterday that he had submitted fake invoices for legal services to cover up what were, in fact, reimbursements for a $130,000 hush-money payment to the adult film actor Stormy Daniels on his then boss's behalf.
Thai activist charged with insulting monarchy dies in custody after hunger strike
A Thai political activist charged with insulting the king has died in pre-trial detention after spending 65 days on hunger strike calling for an end to the imprisonment of political dissidents.
India, gangs - or both? Why Sikhs in Canada are being murdered
Less than half an hour after the prominent Canadian Sikh activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar was shot dead outside a temple in British Columbia, Moninder Singh addressed a crowd near the site of the brazen attack.
OpenAI reveals new faster and free version of flagship model
OpenAI has unveiled its new fl agship artifi cial intelligence model, GPT-4o , as well as updates i nclud ing a new desktop service and improvements to its voice assistant .
Blood scandal victims were 'dismissed' by NHS
Women who were infected with hepatitis C as a result of the infected blood scandal say their medical problems were dismissed by doctors as being related to motherhood, the menopause or teenage mood swings.
'Breathtaking' Gucci brings frock and awe to London in celebration of origin story
On a picture perfect spring evening in London, 600 guests clutching tickets for Gucci's show at the Tate Modern gathered at the gallery's riverside entrance in their finery on Monday.
