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Tech entrepreneur Christopher Bouzy launched his software tool 'Bot Sentinel' in 2018 to 'help people identify inauthentic [social media] accounts and toxic trolls'.
In case he's still on the hunt for the latter, he might want to look in the mirror.
For, in the interests of his company's online plea for financial donations to 'help us combat online harassment and disinformation', his own recent social media outpourings over the dark conspiracies swirling online about the Royal Family certainly count as 'disinformation'.
As for 'online harassment', how about endlessly commenting on the Princess of Wales's changing weight, accusing her of lying when she said she badly Photoshopped that Mother's Day image with her children, and even seemingly attacking her Friday video announcement revealing her cancer diagnosis as akin to 'North Korean propaganda'?
Tech entrepreneur Christopher Bouzy launched his software tool 'Bot Sentinel' in 2018 to 'help people identify inauthentic [social media] accounts and toxic trolls'. In case he's still on the hunt for the latter, he might want to look in the mirror.
For, in the interests of his company's online plea for financial donations to 'help us combat online harassment and disinformation', his own recent social media outpourings over the dark conspiracies swirling online about the Royal Family certainly count as 'disinformation'.
This is the same woman that he once said on X – formerly Twitter –was aging as fast as a 'banana' and married to a man who 'looks like a balding Muppet'.
Indeed, there's a deep irony in the fact that the notoriously combative Bouzy is a self-proclaimed expert on social media monitoring and the evils of online misbehavior.
In fact, one might wonder whether, after appearing on the Sussexes' infamous 2022 Netflix documentary to complain that Meghan Markle was the target of 'hatred', he might now be suffering from a serious case of double standards when it comes to the Princess of Wales.
Bouzy – whose latest digital venture is a little-used Twitter alternative called 'Spoutible' – has been backpedaling desperately in recent days following Kate's cancer announcement.
Backpedaling, mind, but not apologizing.
Celebrities and commentators ranging from actress Blake Lively to left-wing UK Guardian columnist Owen Jones – who mocked the princess in the days before her announcement – have done the right thing and issued apologies.
But not Bouzy. He insists he has nothing to apologize for because – he claims – he hasn't done anything wrong by Kate.
Bouzy believes he's doing us all a service – uncovering a devious Establishment conspiracy he alleges has been cooked up by the Palace and the media to conceal the fact that Kate hasn't really been seen in public for months.
In a long social media message on Sunday, Bouzy said that he knows what it is like to watch a loved one battling cancer having seen his mother succumb to the disease during Covid.
'I definitely would not come out and troll someone who is battling cancer,' he said. 'All of my tweets and spouts and comments have been about the British press and the Palace's communications team.'
In his righteous indignation at the Sussexes' two greatest enemies, he must have forgotten that, in the hours after Kate's cancer announcement, he wrote that Prince William 'threw his wife [...] under the bus' and failed to 'give her moral support'.
For the record, he believes all the recent photos and videos of the princess – apart from the cancer announcement – have been faked for nefarious reasons that aren't quite clear.
His current fixation – which he tweets about incessantly – appears to be the footage from early last week of Kate and William walking outside a Windsor farm shop.
Like all crazed conspiracists, there is no convincing Bouzy of the footage's veracity – even though the man who filmed it on his mobile phone has spoken publicly.
'The visit to the farm was staged, and the person in the video wasn't Kate,' Bouzy tweeted only yesterday.
In another post, Bouzy replied to an excerpt of a recorded BBC news panel discussion from Sunday featuring Victoria Newton, the editor of The Sun newspaper (which first ran the Windsor farm shop footage).
One might wonder whether, after appearing on the Sussexes' infamous 2022 Netflix documentary to complain that Meghan Markle was the target of 'hatred', he might now be suffering from a serious case of double standards when it comes to the Princess of Wales.
He believes all the recent photos and videos of the princess - apart from the cancer announcement - have been faked for nefarious reasons that aren't quite clear. His current fixation appears to be the footage from early last week of Kate and William walking outside a Windsor farm shop.
In the clip, Newton says that the Royal couple must have known that, if they went out and 'mingled with the public', someone would likely spot and photograph them on a phone.
When a passerby did exactly that, she added, the newspaper sought the approval of the Palace before publishing.
That, said Bouzy, was proof positive that 'the farm walk was staged'.
It was left to wiser minds to point out that Newton had revealed nothing of the sort.
There are plenty more like-minded crackpots swirling around the social media cesspools, trotting out the same claptrap as Bouzy – and even going further, cold-bloodedly suggesting Kate's announcement video was AI generated.
But they don't have anything like Bouzy's reach (he has nearly 358,000 followers on X). Nor – since his Harry and Meghan-endorsed Netflix docuseries appearance – do they have his name recognition.
Bouzy is of course entitled to spout whatever tortuously-constructed hypotheses he likes – even if his endless capacity to contradict himself would make the most swivel-eyed conspiracy theorist blush.
But his simultaneous claims of his empathy for the princess – even as he continues to unkindly portray her as some sort of hapless puppet of sinister forces – are starting to wear a little thin.
Bouzy is a man who has built a career on being relentlessly controversial, frequently posting online about the latest hot-button issues.
A 2023 Wired profile claimed 'Bouzy is defined by his inability to stay above the fray: Though he's often warm and witty in conversation, he turns pugnacious when alone behind a keyboard.'
It went on: 'His penchant for escalating online beefs with surly characters has caused him to become enmeshed in almost too many feuds to track.'
And, as he struggles to build up interest in Spoutible – one of many Twitter alternatives that are in danger of sinking without trace – stirring up controversy, particularly about the Royal Family, has proved a valuable calling card when it comes to getting noticed.
The 48-year-old computer programmer has described how he came from humble beginnings, brought up in one of Brooklyn's poorest neighborhoods by his mother, grandmother and aunt.
Aged nine, he says his mother gave him a Mattel Aquarius computer to keep him out of trouble and he became hooked on computing.
After working for the IT department of the New York City Department of Education, he started a one-man software company in 2000.
He later moved into cryptocurrencies where, as a contributor to the online forum Bitcointalk, he was accused of using bots and false online identities to heavily inflate the value of 'coins' he'd bought, as well as allegedly promising customers assets that he never provided.
Bouzy is of course entitled to spout whatever tortuously-constructed hypotheses he likes. But his simultaneous claims of his empathy for the princess - even as he continues to unkindly portray her as some sort of hapless puppet of sinister forces - are starting to wear a little thin.
Bouzy dismissed the claims as 'misinformation and disinformation' and no legal action was forthcoming.
However, trouble followed him in his other ventures.
In 2018, after he set up Bot Sentinel – a crowd-funded and supposedly apolitical software tool that tracks coordinated disinformation and harassment campaigns on Twitter – critics soon accused Bouzy of race-baiting and using the tool to pursue his own woke agenda, having his algorithms only flag up what he personally found offensive.
In 2021, Bot Sentinel garnered considerable publicity when it investigated the source of online slurs aimed at the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, concluding that 70 percent of the 'hate content' targeting the couple came from just 83 Twitter accounts.
Bouzy claimed there was no obvious motive for this supposed coordinated anti-Meghan campaign but suggested it was racism. He repeated these claims in the couple's Netflix documentary the following year.
Also in 2022, Bot Sentinel said it had discovered Twitter trolls had engaged in 'rampant abuse and widespread targeted harassment' of women who voiced support online for actress Amber Heard.
Bouzy's company was subsequently hired by Heard's lawyers in her defamation court case – which she lost – with Johnny Depp.
But in the December of 2022, Bouzy was sued by a New York lawyer, Nathaniel Broughty, with a popular YouTube channel who claimed he'd been falsely accused of being 'disruptive' by Bot Sentinel simply because he had criticized Heard's legal position at trial.
Bouzy had also tweeted that Broughty was not a bona fide lawyer, wildly claiming that he had planted evidence on suspects in his previous police career.
A judge dismissed the case.
Last year, Bouzy's credibility took yet another hit when research by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) found that bot detection tools – including Bot Sentinel – actually do a pretty poor job, as they rely on flawed data.
Little known before he was picked up by Team Sussex, he is hardly a king of Silicon Valley.
He lives in a workaday town in New Jersey with his wife and son. He also has a daughter.
In 2019 he filed for bankruptcy and became embroiled in a legal battle with his landlord over unpaid rent.
When it comes to the Royal Family, Bouzy seems to particularly revel in making personal remarks about the appearance and age of the Waleses, once writing: 'I'm sorry, but William and Kate look like Harry's aunt and uncle.'
However, according to Bouzy, while attacks on the Duchess of Sussex are never OK – and always rooted in racism – attacks on the Waleses, and particularly Kate, are seemingly fair game.
Also in 2022, his company Bot Sentinel said it had discovered Twitter trolls had engaged in 'rampant abuse and widespread targeted harassment' of women who voiced support online for actress Amber Heard.
Last year, Bouzy's credibility took hit when research by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) found that bot detection tools - including Bot Sentinel - actually do a pretty poor job, as they rely on flawed data.
After Meghan was labelled a 'narcissist' in an article by Politico in late 2022, Bouzy charged to her defense.
'A woman of color protecting her family and defending herself isn't narcissism; it's survival,' he roared. Her only offense, he said, was having 'defended herself while being black'.
Shortly after the death of the late Queen, Bouzy criticized people who – with no apparent evidence – he claimed were trying to portray Meghan 'as some sort of harlot'.
He added: 'All Meghan did was marry the man she loves while being black. Just stop.'
As Bouzy continues to revel in his notoriety – he will no doubt flag up this article as he does with many others as proof of his 'importance' – one wonders if he will ever accept that the Princess of Wales deserve to deal with her health crisis in peace.