Meghan Markle and Prince Harry want social media companies to protect children

Meghan Markle and Prince Harry have appeared on a NYC panel where they took aim at the top executives of social media companies.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have urged social media companies to overhaul their content moderation to better protect young people from harm.

The couple spoke at a panel discussion co-ordinated by their Archewell Foundation in New York City as part of a mental health awareness festival hosted by a non-profit called Project Healthy Minds.

Ms Markle said she and Prince Harry had spoken to tech company executives, who she didn’t name, who assured them safety features on their apps had been improved.

She said she and Prince Harry were working behind the scenes to make social media use

“safer, better and more positive” but suggested more work was needed as parents aren’t always comfortable navigating social media platforms.

Meghan, Duchess of Sussex and Prince Harry, Duke Duchess of Sussex, speak onstage at The Archewell Foundation panel. Picture: Getty

“People are getting hurt – and people, specifically children, are dying,” she said.

Parents who lost children through mental health tragedies linked to social media use spoke about their devastating loss, and how the Archewell Foundation has introduced them to other grieving families.

Prince Harry said Zoom calls over the past year were held so people could connect with others who went through similar tragedies.

“For us, the priority here is to turn pain into purpose,” he told the panel.

Prince Harry said socila media companies need to protect children better.

He and Ms Markle want to “provide as much support, spotlight and platform for these parents to come together, to heal together, to grieve together and collectively focus on solutions so that no other family anywhere has to go through what they’ve been through,” he said

Prince Harry pleaded with social media companies to consider what they were showing children.

“Please stop sending children content you wouldn’t want your own children to see - I think it’s a very simple request and its an easy fix.”

The event is the latest step in the couple’s philanthropic efforts to highlight issues they care about. Before the event they appeared at The Marcy Lab School in Brookyln, which runs a fellowship program geared toward students who want to pursue “a purpose-driven career in technology.”

The NYC panel appearance is part of Ms Markle and Prince Harry’s plan to highlight issues they feel strongly about.

During their last public appearance in New York City, the couple set off alarms when they claimed they had been dangerously pursued by paparazzi in a “near catastrophic car chase” in Manhattan.

New York City Mayor Eric Adams later condemned the paparazzi chasing them as “reckless and irresponsible.”