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Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are speaking out after a Los Angeles jury ruled against Google and Meta in a landmark case regarding social media addiction.
On Wednesday, March 25, the two tech giants were ordered to pay $6 million in compensatory and punitive damages to a young woman who alleged that Meta-owned Instagram and Google-owned YouTube were designed to be addictive, causing detriment to her mental health as a minor.
“This verdict is a reckoning,” the Duke and Duchess of Sussex said in a statement to Us Weekly. “For too long, families have paid the price for platforms built with total disregard for the children they reach. We stand with every parent and young person who refused to be silenced. Today, the truth has been heard and precedent has been set.”
The woman identified only as K.G.M., now 20, sued Google, Meta, and other tech companies in 2023, alleging that features on social media applications were designed to be addictive. She said she began using social media platforms at age 6 and that the likes of Instagram and YouTube had caused her harm, including depression, body dysmorphia and thoughts of self-harm, per The New York Times and NBC News.
A jury said Meta must pay K.G.M. $4.2 million in combined compensatory and punitive damages. YouTube owner Google was ordered to pay $1.8 million.
Both Meta and Google said they disagreed with the verdict and plan to appeal.
“Teen mental health is profoundly complex and cannot be linked to a single app. We will continue to defend ourselves vigorously as every case is different, and we remain confident in our record of protecting teens online,” a Meta spokesperson told NBC News.
Google spokesperson José Castañeda claimed to NBC News that the case “misunderstands YouTube, which is a responsibly built streaming platform, not a social media site.”
Harry, 41, and Meghan, 44, have been outspoken about online safety among minors, particularly when it comes to social media, and have supported various initiatives around the cause through their foundation, Archewell Philanthropies.
In April 2025, the couple, who share son Prince Archie, 6, and daughter Princess Lilibet, 4, launched the “Lost Screen Memorial,” an installation in New York City aimed at highlighting the negative impact of social media on young people.
The memorial incorporated images of children who “lost their lives as a result of the harm they suffered on social media,” per a virtual version of the “Lost Screen Memorial.”
“These children were not sick. Their deaths were not inevitable — they were exposed to, and in many cases were pushed harmful content online, the kind any child could encounter,” Harry said in a statement issued to Us at the time.
“No child should be exploited, groomed, or preyed upon in digital spaces. To the platforms, they may be seen as statistics. To their families, they were cherished and irreplaceable,” he added.
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