Prince Harry And Meghan Markle Call For Greater Child Protection On Social Media

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are advocating for stronger protections on social media, highlighting the dangers it poses to children and young users. At an event in New York City on Thursday, they unveiled a memorial dedicated to children whose families believe online interactions contributed to their deaths.

“We want to make sure that things are changed so that… no more kids are lost to social media,” Prince Harry told BBC Breakfast in New York.

“Life is better off social media,” he continued, adding that he was “grateful” that his children were still too young to be online.

The memorial, called The Lost Screen Memorial, consists of 50 illuminated lightboxes resembling smartphone screens, each displaying a lock screen photo of a child whose life was tragically cut short. The memorial includes personal stories and recorded messages from the families. The Duke of Sussex encouraged parents to keep their children off social media during the event, which was hosted by their non-profit, Archewell Foundation.

“The sad reality is the kids who aren’t on social media normally get bullied at school because they can’t be part of the same conversation as everybody else,” he continued.

“This tribute builds on over four years of work by the Duke and Duchess in the digital safety space, reflecting their continued commitment to creating a safer digital world,” the non-profit’s website says.