Prince Harry says the term ‘Megxit’ is misogynistic and the British press picked it up from an internet troll

• Prince Harry said "Megxit" is a misogynistic term coined by an internet troll.
• His comment was made while on the "The Internet Lie Machine" panel organized by WIRED.
• He said it's an example of online hate and called out British press for interacting with trolls.

Prince Harry said the term "Megxit" used in reference to him and his wife Meghan Markle is misogynistic and was coined by an internet troll before getting picked up by British tabloids.

The Duke of Sussex's comments on the term, often used to describe the couple's decision to step back from royal life, came during his appearance on WIRED's "The Internet Lie Machine" panel on Tuesday, where he and other panelists discussed misinformation on social media.

Recalling the findings from research carried out by Bot Sentinel, a Twitter analysis service that identified 83 accounts as responsible for approximately 70% of the hate content targeting him and Markle, Harry said "Megxit" was a prime example of online hatred.

"Maybe people know this and maybe they don't, but the term 'Megxit' was or is a misogynistic term," the 37-year-old said. "It was created by a troll, amplified by royal correspondents, and it grew and grew and grew into mainstream media."

Vanity Fair's Michelle Ruiz previously reported the origins of "Megxit" to have started as early as Markle and Harry's wedding in 2018, almost two years before they actually announced they were stepping back from their roles in the royal family.

Ruiz cited analysis from social data analytics firm Brandwatch, which estimated nearly 3.5 million people saw #Megxit on Twitter timelines from the beginning of 2019 - a full year before the couple transitioned out of their royal roles.

It's the relationship between troll accounts and the British press which Harry said worried him most on Tuesday's panel.

"Perhaps the most troubling part of this is the number of British journalists interacting with and amplifying the hate and the lies but they regurgitate these lies as truth," he said.

Earlier in the discussion, he called out the UK press for conflating "profit with purpose and news with entertainment."

"They don't report the news, they create it. They've successfully turned fact-based news into opinion-based gossip with devastating consequences for the country," the father of two said, before discussing how tabloids have affected his personal life.

"I know the story all too well, I lost my mother to this self-manufactured rabidness and obviously I'm determined not to lose the mother to my children to the same thing," he said.

Representatives for the Duke and Duchess of Sussex did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.