Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have praised the Australian government’s world-first social media ban for children, while urging tech companies to do more to protect kids.
Australia is now the first country to impose national age limits on social media, with 10 major platforms, including YouTube, TikTok, Snapchat and Instagram, required to block anyone under 16 from creating an account.
Any company that breaches the restrictions faces heavy fines of up to $A49.5 million.
‘It shouldn’t have come to this,’ the couple said in a 537-word statement through their Archewell Foundation on Thursday.
‘We celebrate Australia’s leadership for seeing and acting on how these technology companies are negatively impacting young people with little to no recourse or accountability.
‘This bold, decisive action to protect children at a critical moment in their development sends a strong signal that a child’s mind is not a commodity to be exploited.
‘It buys young people valuable time back in their childhoods, but it doesn’t fix the fundamental issue we all still face with social media platforms.’
They added: ‘Here’s the truth: the ban is an effective measure to stop imminent harm.
‘But ultimately it only works as a band-aid that does not address tech’s broken design and exploitive business incentives.’
The couple acknowledged that social media does have some positives.
‘It inspires creativity, connects young people to educational resources, and helps them find their communities,’ they said.
‘For LGBTQ+ young people and those suffering mental health emergencies we’ve spoken with, it can be a genuine lifeline.
‘These platforms have immense potential for good, connection, and hope. But when there’s no option to opt out of the harms, the very lifeline they might depend on can become the very thing that kills them.’
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have been famously private about their children, Prince Archie, 6, and Princess Lilibet, 4 – often obscuring their faces in photos published online.
Through their Archewell Foundation, the couple have campaigned for improving online safety.
In 2022, they launched The Parents’ Network, bringing together families affected by social media-related suicide or online harm to their children.
The pair touched on this work in their statement.
‘We’ve heard from too many grieving parents. Too many families devastated by cyberbullying, feeds that radicalise kids toward self-harm, and algorithmic manipulation designed to maximise engagement at any cost.
‘There is too much loss of life and livelihood. Children currently have no right to privacy and no expectation of safety, and they’ve been hooked.’
The Australian government’s new rules require platforms to take ‘reasonable steps,’ such as deactivating the accounts of underage users and monthly compliance checks, but the Duke and Duchess cautioned these could create new risks too.
‘Young people know they will live their lives with these platforms whether it’s now or later in life. They are calling for technology that is safe by default and design, not as a reaction to avoidable, sometimes fatal, harm.
‘They are rightly concerned about how age restrictions will be enforced and whether it will create new opportunities for their lives to be surveilled.’
They also accused the tech platforms of failing young people.
‘We hope this ban is only the start of a reckoning between society and the tech companies that built these platforms with growth as their first principle instead of safety.
‘American innovation has been at the forefront of bringing change for good in the world – we hope for a course correction to get back to that place with these technologies involved in our every waking moment.
‘We look forward to the next step to hold tech accountable for its design choices and hope leaders of new technologies learn the lessons of failing to prioritize the well-being of young people.’
While many under-16s found ways to get around the bans and trick the algorithms designed to detect them, the government likened it to laws around underage drinking – the fact some youngsters can find a way to procure alcohol does not mean there should be no restrictions.
Harry and Meghan were honoured with the Humanitarians of the Year Award at Project Healthy Minds’ October Gala for their digital-safety and mental-health work.
Later that month, Harry spoke candidly about kids and smartphones on the Hasan Minhaj Doesn’t Know podcast.
‘We talk about it a lot. I think that because of what we know now, we will be way more cautious and hesitant of allowing our kids to have access to social media, but the problem is, so many parents don’t have that awareness,’ Prince Harry said on the show.
‘Because in no logical, fair, ethical, moral world should a parent have to consider this app that sits on the phone – which by the way, having a phone for your kid is a really important thing – but the moment that you give them the gateway to everything else, kids will be kids.’
