Harry and Meghan make emotional plea for 'urgent change' to protect children
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have shared a rare video calling for "urgent change" within online child safety amid the US Senate Judiciary Committee's bi-partisan hearing about the topic.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have penned an emotional statement on their Archewell Foundation site, with them also sharing an accompanying video clip where they address mental health and harmful online content.
This comes after the bi-partisan hearing about children being safe online in the States, with it taking place in front of a packed room filled with dozens of parents whose children have suffered or died due to online harms.
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Meghan spoke at a mental health event in 2023 (Getty Images for Project Healthy Minds)According to the couple's foundation, The Archewell Foundation, they have been working with many of these families "to provide a support network for parents dealing with grief or who have children managing serious mental health conditions as a result of their exposure to harmful online content."
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In the new video, Meghan can be heard saying: "When the car was first invented, there wasn't a seatbelt. And what happened? People started to get hurt, people started to die. So you started to change the car."
Her husband then weighs in and says: "We need to get out of this idea that young kids, there's something wrong with them. No, it's the world that we're allowing to be created around them.
"Please stop sending children content that you wouldn't want your own children to see."
Meghan then adds: "Everyone now is affected by the online world and social media. There is an entry point that's [a] positive and creative community, but we all just want to feel safe."
The couple are co-founders of The Archewell Foundation (Getty Images for Project Healthy)Meanwhile, the statement that the couple penned on their website reads: "We applaud the bravery and determination of the thousands of parents around the country whose advocacy resulted in this hearing.
"Over the past few years, we have spent time with many of these families, listening to their heartache and their hopes for the urgent change that is needed in the online space. This is an issue that transcends division and party lines, as we saw today at the Senate hearing. The best parenting in the world cannot keep children safe from these platforms. As one of the fathers shared with us: ‘If love could have saved them, all of our children would still be here.’
"This is not the time to pass the buck of responsibility. It’s the time to make necessary change at the source to keep our children safe."
Towards the end of 2023, Meghan and Harry both onstage at The Archewell Foundation Parents’ Summit: Mental Wellness in the Digital Age during Project Healthy Minds' World Mental Health Day Festival 2023. Speaking at the event, Meghan touched on family life when she said: "Being a mum is the most important thing in my entire life… outside of course, being a wife to this one [Harry].
"But I will say I feel fortunate that our children are at an age, again quite young, so this isn't in our immediate future, but I also feel frightened by how it's continuing to change and this will be in front of us. They say being a parent - the days are long, but the years are short.
"So it worries me, but I'm also given a lot of hope and a lot of energy by the progress we've made in the past year."
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