Harry and Meghan unveil memorial to young people who lost lives due to social media

By Laura Elston and Martyn Landi, PA

Britain's Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have called for stronger protections for children online after unveiling a memorial in New York City to young people who lost their lives due to the harmful effects of social media.

Harry and Meghan joined a vigil and met families who believe social media played a part in the deaths of their youngsters.

The British royal told the BBC that “life is better off social media” and said “enough is not being done”, adding he was “grateful” that his children, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet, were still too young to be online.

Meanwhile, British and American parents who have lost loved ones joined together to stage a protest in New York aimed at improving online safety, laying 50 roses for their 50 children at the office of tech giant Meta.

Harry said: “The easiest thing to say is to keep your kids away from social media. The sad reality is that the kids who aren’t on social media normally get bullied at school because they can’t be part of the same conversations as everybody else.”

He added: “Life is better off social media. I say that as a parent and I say that as someone who has spoken to many of the kids here tonight who aren’t on social media because they have lost a brother or a sister to social media. But clearly enough is not being done.”

Harry described some of the stories he had heard as “truly harrowing”, adding: “I mean they’re crime scenes. Like full-blown crime scenes and yet these companies are getting away with it by saying we don’t need to give you disclosure.”

He criticised tech firms for not giving disclose to bereaved UK families because of privacy considerations.

“You are telling a parent, you are telling a dad and a mum that they can’t have the details of what their kid was up to on social media because of the privacy of their kid. The parents who have seen their kid from the time they were a child. It’s wrong,” he said.

The Lost Screen Memorial installation by the Sussexes’ Archewell Foundation, which will be in place for 24 hours, is made of 50 large smartphone-shaped light-boxes each displaying a lock screen photograph of a child or young person who died due to the harms of the internet.

Meghan said “one thing we can all agree on is that children should be safe” and described how it presented a “larger global issue”.

“No matter how polarised the world is, or what people may or may not agree on, one thing we can all agree on is that children should be safe, all of our children should be safe and I think tonight all of these stories solidify that,” she said.

She added: “It is a universal truth that our children are in harm’s way by what’s happening online”

Harry added: “We’re just grateful that our kids are too young to be on social media at this point.”

The Sussexes’ Archewell Foundation previously unveiled its Parents’ Network initiative as a support system for parents of children affected by online harm.