The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have issued a new statement this week, just as news about their return to the UK broke. Prince Harry and Meghan Markle shared a new message on their official website focusing on children’s online safety, following the start of a landmark trial in a California federal court.
Meta faces lawsuit over youth mental health
Meta, which owns platforms like Facebook and Instagram, is being sued by the states of California, Colorado, Kentucky and New Jersey over allegations that it contributes to the youth mental health crisis by deliberately designing features that addict children to its platforms and hide these harms from the public. The lawsuit argues that Meta routinely collects data on children under 13 without their parents’ consent, in violation of federal law.
The four states were among 29 that sued the tech giant in 2023 over child safety and privacy — the other 25 will go to trial later. The company also faces lawsuits in state courts, including one under way in Tennessee.
Sussexes criticise Meta in new message
Meta insists it has a long history of protecting its youngest customers as it defends itself against a swath of lawsuits alleging its social media empire harms children. Children’s mental health, and what they do and see on social media, are all issues “Meta takes seriously and tries to act on,” Paul Schmidt, a lawyer for the tech giant, said in opening statements this week.
In their new message, the duke and duchess blast the tech giant, saying that the trial “confirms what families and experts have been saying for years– Meta’s harms were a financial choice, not an innovation accident.”
They said: “It’s hard to fathom how Meta can withstand the facts highlighted in whistleblower testimony from father and former Meta employee Arturo Bejar’s recollection of Meta’s ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ approach to child safety; the well-documented internal documentation showing Meta’s active pursuit of their technology’s addictive properties; or the power of countless stories from parents who have lost their children to suicide, and families who have witnessed irreparable harm to their children.”
Couple expected to relocate to UK
The couple concluded: “Parents and advocates, including those from The Parents’ Network, are standing tall outside the courthouse, facing the enormity of this hearing. The reckoning many families have waited years for has finally reached the federal courtroom. We stand with them as we wait to see what this trial will mean for children across the country and the world.”
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are expected to relocate to the UK in just a few days, in a bombshell decision six years after they left the country for a new life in America. The couple are expected to retain their homes in California and Portugal and they will live in a non-royal residence outside of London. Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet have been enrolled in British schools.
