Why did Getty add an editors note to the Kate Middleton's cancer announcement video?

The photo agency Getty Images has added an Editor’s Note to Kate Middleton’s cancer announcement video.

On 22 March, The Princess of Wales announced she was undergoing preventative chemotherapy for cancer after conspiracy theories and rumours about her absence from the public eye ran wild.

Middleton released a video explaining what had been going on. It had been filmed by the BBC in the gardens of Windsor Castle a week before it was publicised.

Getty Images added an editor’s note to the clip suggesting it may not comply with its editorial standards. But, the agency revealed that it attaches the note to all third-party content that is supplied to them.

However, the note sparked a whole host of conspiracies online, suggesting it was somehow inauthentic, especially after the controversy surrounding an edited Mother’s Day photo shared by Kensington Palace that was pulled by many agencies because it was edited.

On X/Twitter, one person wrote: “Has a journalist contacted Getty Images about this editor's note?”

In the comments, others tried to suggest the note meant the video was inauthentic.

One person replied: “They said what they said. … it’s fake.”

Another person wrote: “It’s the editors note on Kate Middleton’s cancer announcement video. They must have seen the double rows of teeth on her bottom set. So the last verifiable time she was seen was on Christmas Day 2023?”

However, others provided the real explanation, highlighting how the same editor’s note was added to third-party footage from the recent Baltimore Key Bridge collapse.

Someone explained: “Getty does this when they distribute footage they didn't create themselves, it doesn't mean it's fake or AI generated. Example: the exact same language is used on this editor's note on footage from the Key Bridge collapse.”

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