Meghan Markle said that she and Prince Harry have been secretly meeting with tech giants as she spoke about her fears of her children being online, in New York City Tuesday.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex — both of whom have spoken about their struggles with mental health — revealed they’ve been having “quiet” conversations with tech companies about how to protect kids.
This comes on the heels of their Archewell Foundation setting up a support network for parents whose children killed themselves after being bullied on social media.
The couple, who are parents to Archie, 4, and Lilibet, 2, urged big tech to support kids as they appeared on stage at their Archewell Foundation Parents’ Summit to mark World Mental Health Day.
Markle said, “Being a mom is the most important thing in my life.”
It was the Sussexes’ first trip to NYC since their now-infamous paparazzi “chase” in May, and they arrived to Hudson Yards with a heavy police escort and trailed by a stream of security cars.
Markle and Prince Harry took the stage after watching grieving parents talk on stage, for a panel moderated by “Today” show host Carson Daly,
“There’s a reason why no one else is working in this space, the size and the power of these companies can make you feel scared and helpless… we all understand that,” Harry, 39, said.
Markle, 42, stressed that the “burden can’t lay solely on the parents,” adding that, while some tech platforms have “created parental controls and certain guardrails … if [parents] aren’t tech savvy, you can’t navigate that comfortably, it feels pretty overwhelming. So there has to be a better solution than that … “
“As we watch the evolution of social media and and the internet, what are those safe modifications that we need to make? People are getting hurt and children are dying, how do we fix that?” she asked.
Harry added that, in their discussions with tech execs, “The pushback is, ‘Well, you don’t really understand.’ How can we understand if you’re not being transparent?”
They were joined by US Surgeon General Vivek Murthy, who said he and his wife have decided not to let their kids on social media until at least after middle school.
Murthy pointed out that nearly three-quarters of young people are struggling with loneliness, while one in three high schools are “seriously considering taking their own life.”
“That is a crisis. The true measure of a society is how well it takes care and protects its young people,” he said.”
Harry added: “There is nothing wrong with these kids, if any one of us in this room grew up with social media we would probably react in this way. It’s the world that we’re allowing to be created around them.
“Please stop sending these children content that you would not want your own children to see,” the royal begged tech giants, adding that shareholders of such companies should accept “a little less profit to create a safe space [that] would stop the suffering.”
Markle said she was looking forward to making change, adding: “Anyone as a parent — even if not — you see your friends and adults affected … by the online world … If someone is looking for something, please don’t feed them the thing that is going to harm them.”
