Prince Harry and Meghan Markle call out social media companies to save our youth

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have had enough. The parents of two royal toddlers see the writing on the wall, and they aren’t waiting for little Archie and Lili to make it to their teen years to find out just how the social media/mental health disaster will play out.

They called out social media companies, demanding change, at a panel discussion by their Archewell Foundation in New York City, as part of a second annual mental health awareness festival hosted by Project Healthy Minds, AP reports.

They listened to parents who had lost children due to social media-related mental health challenges, and Harry let everyone know they’d been uniting these parents to have community through Zoom as part of the foundation’s work.

”…Our kids are really young … but social media is not going away,” Meghan told the audience, according to videos posted online. “I think by design, there is an entry point that’s supposed to be positive and creating community. And something has devolved, and there’s no way to hear that and not try to help these families have their stories be heard.”

“For us, the priority here is to turn pain into purpose,” Harry said, adding that he and Meghan wanted to support and spotlight the families to encourage collective grieving and change. They’ve spoken to tech executives at major social media platforms about creating better controls and additional resources for parents who aren’t sure how to help their kids navigate their new digital possibilities, and dangers.

Harry issued a call for social companies: “Please stop sending children content you wouldn’t want your own children to see,” he said. “I think it’s a very simple request and it’s an easy fix.”