The Princess of Wales has been absent from the public eye since she was admitted to hospital for abdominal surgery two months ago. For someone recovering from major surgery, it is understandable that Kate has kept a low profile and stopped all official engagements.
However, Kate's absence from the public eye has led to a phenomenon known as an "information vacuum", which has been filled with online rumors and conspiracy theories.
Prince William's last-minute cancellation of his attendance at the memorial service for his godfather, former King Constantine of Greece, due to an undisclosed "personal matter" added fuel to the fire.
The flames of "conspiracy" were temporarily extinguished on Mother's Day in the UK (March 10) when Kensington Palace released the first official photo of Kate since her surgery. In it, Kate happily posed with her three children.
However, the storm was only a temporary pause before a more violent wave hit. Later that day, four international news agencies made a surprise announcement, removing the photo and advising their clients not to use it, over concerns that the image had been manipulated.
The seemingly serious "take down" notice was issued after netizens noticed a series of irregularities in the photo. Without clarification from Kensington Palace, the news agencies had no choice but to remove the photo.
Rumors started flying again.
Kate's social media apology the following morning did little to quell fresh speculation about her health and the state of the British royal family in general.
Attempts to quell rumors can end up backfiring in what's known as the "boomerang" phenomenon. Boomerangs are actions that, while perhaps well-intentioned, can go dramatically astray without careful consideration of their potential consequences. In extreme cases, boomerangs can turn a full 180 degrees and come back to (metaphorically) hit you in the head.
In addition, Kate's recent story has also made her a victim of a rather strange effect called the "Streisand effect".
The Streisand effect (named after American singer Barbra Streisand) is a term used to refer to the unintended consequences of attempting to conceal, remove, suppress, or censor a piece of information, but which results in increased public attention and wider dissemination of the information, often via the Internet.
In 2002, environmentalists Kenneth and Gabrielle Adelman undertook a monumental mission to photograph the entire California coast to document coastal erosion. Upon completion, they made the 12,200 photographs public on their website.
One of them happened to include singer Barbra Streisand's Malibu mansion, and Streisand was unhappy that a photo of her residence was posted for free on the Internet, so she decided to sue the Adelmans.
In the month following the lawsuit, nearly half a million people visited Adelmans’s otherwise unremarkable website. Streisand eventually lost the case and was forced to pay $155,000 in legal fees. The phenomenon has since been named after the singer.
Returning to Kate's case, the void created by the lack of information about her condition increased attention and speculation, reminiscent of the Streisand effect.
The media blackout created a fevered atmosphere that led Kensington Palace to release the "edited" photo on March 10.
By attempting to present an overly perfect version of reality in order to reduce speculation, it seems Kate's photo editing has had the opposite effect than was originally intended.
It remains to be seen how the situation plays out going forward, but the future path of the story will certainly depend on what the British Royal Family chooses to do next.
They are faced with a dilemma: should they keep quiet in the hope that the speculative fire will eventually burn itself out, or rush in to quell the rumors—at the risk of adding fuel to the fire?
Source: Independent
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