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Kensington Palace aides devote hours each week to moderating and deleting violent, sexist and racist comments directed at Markle and Middleton and the palace has even turned to Instagram for help, according to a report in Hello! magazine.

\"A lot of it is very petty — a lot of body shaming and criticizing how they walk, how they look — and a lot of this is coming from women,\" Nash said of the criticisms directed at the royals. \"Meghan is a newcomer so there is a lot more scrutiny on her.\"

\"It feels like it has reached a tipping point now and it can’t go on like this,\" she added.

Ferguson's pointed essay was an endorsement of the magazine's #HellotoKindness campaign, an effort launched last month to \"champion positivity online\" and quell toxic bullying and negative comments.

The campaign asks readers to ask themselves three questions before posting a comment online: Is it friendly? Is it kind? Would you say it in real life?

I've also been told #HelloToKindness should start at home. It did. In response to the negative impact trolling on our platforms is having on us all - not just on the Duchesses. I've said in interviews this week that I feel sections of the media need to raise their game, FWIW.

— Emily Nash (@emynash) January 29, 2019

\"Let's all try to think before we post. Let's all try to treat each other a little more gently,\" she wrote, calling for compassion.

Ferguson called on tech firms, news website and social media companies to do much more “to take a stand against online abuse, rather than shrugging their shoulders.”

“I believe that it's time to take a stand,” she wrote. “This isn’t about free speech. The truth is, it's not acceptable to pit women against one another all the time. It's not acceptable to troll other people viciously online.”

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