The Duchess of Sussex has urged global health leaders to act to keep children safe online, adding they are being shaped by systems “designed to capture attention at any cost”.
Speaking at a memorial in Geneva, Switzerland, for people who have died after suffering digital harm, Meghan described children’s online safety as a “public health issue”.
The duchess made the remarks at the opening of the Lost Screen Memorial on Sunday, where she was joined by World Health Organisation (WHO) director-general Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
She told global health leaders, ministers and families affected by online harm: “Children today are being shaped by systems designed to capture attention at any cost: relentless algorithms, exploitative engagement, and endless exposure to harmful content that they are not seeking out.”
Meghan said new technologies, such as AI, are “not just repeating past mistakes”, but “accelerating and amplifying” them, adding danger now travels globally.
She said: “We are seeing new forms of harm emerge faster than our systems are prepared to respond, affecting children at alarming scale and across borders.
“But these outcomes are not inevitable, and prevention begins with one simple principle: children must be safe by design, not safe by chance.
“Because danger now travels globally – instantly, invisibly, intimately. And our protections must do the same.”
She called on attendees to “speak up” and “demand better from the platforms shaping our children’s lives”.
Hosted by the WHO and Archewell Philanthropies, the charitable foundation of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, the event took place ahead of the 79th World Health Assembly.
It was also run in partnership with The Parents’ Network, a community of bereaved families advocating for safer online spaces for children and young people.
Guests including global health leaders, ministers and families affected by online harm saw an installation of 50 illuminated lightboxes, each displaying the mobile phone lockscreen image of a child who lost their life because of online violence and digital harm.
The foundation added that the memorial “seeks to highlight the measurable and preventable harms associated with online violence against children, including cyberbullying, grooming, sextortion, exposure to self-harm content and unsafe emerging technologies without adequate safeguards”.
Online child safety advocate Amy Neville, whose son Alexander is among the children featured in the exhibition, will be among the speakers.
A digital companion will help visitors hear the stories of the children featured in the memorial.
Ahead of the event on Friday, Meghan’s office said: “During the ceremony, Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, will pay tribute to the children remembered in the installation and underscore the urgent need for stronger global protections for children online.”
