The fifth episode of Harry and Mehgan's Netflix documentary introduced us to Christopher Bouzy, a software engineer responsible for the programme that unearthed the hundreds of bot and organised troll accounts that harassed Meghan daily.
He's often spoken about his research on telly and could be seen in the trailer saying, 'It's about hatred. It's about race.' He also goes on to claim that Meghan's half-sister, Samantha Markle was 'part of a hate group' who perpetuated hate online.
Now we've seen the full extent of the abuse Meghan received - and still receives - from trolls online, it's even more shocking that the majority of Tweets came from just 'a handful' of accounts.
'Bot Sentinel has looked at Q-Anon to MAGA to covid misinformation to climate change misinformation – we’ve never seen anything quite like this,' he said. 'We looked at 114,000 tweets and determined that 70% of the hateful content came from just 83 accounts and had a reach of 17m people. So this is not your average trolling. They were coordinating what they would discuss for that particular day or week, what pictures to disseminate, they were actively recruiting people, telling people how to make multiple accounts. How to use VPNs to hide the VP so they don’t get suspended.'
'These were middle aged Caucasian housewives,' he added, and alleging Meghan's half sister Samantha was a key player in the accounts.
'Samantha had her account suspended and then we sent Twitter a list because she had, like, 11 additional accounts,' claims Bouzy. 'And we were baffled by this. How can the half-sister of Meghan be part of a hate group?'
Samantha Markle denies this. The documentary shares a statement published in the US publication Newsweek, reading: “According to Samantha Markle’s attorney, Samantha’s Twitter account has never been ‘suspended’ but instead ‘hacked’, resulting in ‘imposter accounts’ made by third parties to defame his client.”
We already knew from Christopher's previous interviews and their own - albeit limited - version of events that online trolling played a massive part in the decline of Meghan's mental health, explaining in 2021's explosive Oprah interview that the relentless abuse left her feeling suicidal.
Who Is Christopher Bouzy?
Christopher has since confirmed he's in the documentary, tweeting: 'I guess I can officially announce I am in the Harry and Meghan docuseries. I want to thank everyone who has supported Bot Sentinel's research and allowed us to expose the targeted hate campaign against Harry and Meghan.'
Christopher is a long-time supporter of Harry and Meghan - many Sussexes fans tweeted him immediately to say thank you for appearing and defending the couple.
What is Bot Sentinel?
The company he references, Bot Sentinel was launched by Bouzy in 2018, 'to help fight disinformation and targeted harassment,' says the website. 'We believe Twitter users should be able to engage in healthy online discourse without inauthentic accounts, toxic trolls, foreign countries, and organized groups manipulating the conversation.'
Bouzy has nearly 390k followers on Twitter and his bio reads: 'When I was 9, I started coding on a Mattel Aquarius computer. I developed several products in my 20s & 30s, and then in 2018 I launched http://BotSentinel.com'
Christopher is also on Instagram and can be found posting at cbouzy.
Christopher Bouzy and Meghan Markle bot research
Bouzy's company produced a report on the trolling of Meghan by bots, which he has spoken about on US television.
Speaking on the show, he said: 'They’re set up specifically to defame her, to vilify her. Some of these accounts, we’re talking about 3-400 tweets a day. Specifically about her and Harry. So it’s pretty bad.'
The presenter says the report uncovered over 300 accounts created specifically to spread hate about the Duchess of Sussex. They isolated 55 accounts that create original anti-Meghan content that is amplified by 30 secondary accounts, which is then shared and retweeted by hundreds of others.
'One account we found was tweeting five or six times a minute, which is insane…' he adds.
Christopher Bouzy and the Amber Heard and Johnny Depp trial
Bouzy and his company Bot Sentinel are believed to have worked in conjunction with Amber Heard's defence.
In an interview on NBC News in America, he was seen talking about his role and also mentions his work with Meghan Markle.