Harry and Meghan said the trial is a 'turning point' for the improvement of online safety. They stated that the largest technology companies are under unprecedented scrutiny, with their products, design choices, and impact on young people being examined in public debate and in court, according to multiple reports. Harry and Meghan added that these companies are on trial in the court of history, and this is the first case of its kind but will not be the last, sources said. They said the trial has forced some of the most powerful companies on earth to reveal what's behind the curtain and answer for choices that shaped an entire generation's daily life, sources said.
Tech giants such as Meta, Google, and YouTube are facing the first jury trial in Los Angeles, which examines how their platforms are designed to keep children addicted using tailored algorithms, multiple reports indicate. The case centered on claims that platforms owned by Meta, including Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, alongside YouTube, were deliberately designed to maximize user engagement. A jury found Meta and Google, the parent company of YouTube, liable in a case brought by a woman who claimed her childhood addiction to social media worsened her mental health struggles. The jury recommended the now 20-year-old plaintiff be awarded $6 million in damages, a decision both companies have said they will appeal.
The world is finally paying attention.
Prince Harry welcomed two landmark lawsuits against major tech companies, declaring 'Finally, some truth and accountability has arrived.' He said he had done a 'deep dive into the tech-fuelled world in which my children – all our children – are growing up in.' Prince Harry spoke of 'harrowing stories' of how time spent on big tech companies' platforms led to 'grave and irreversible harm.' He said 'About bloody time!' referring to two cases last week where a New Mexico jury ordered Meta to pay $375m in civil penalties and a Los Angeles jury ordered Meta and YouTube to pay $6m damages to a 20-year-old woman. Prince Harry said a jury confirmed what parents have felt and experts have said all along – the systems driving social media platforms have been built to exploit, not protect, and the people at the heart of it have always known it.
Harry and Meghan called for stronger protections for children online last year after unveiling a memorial in New York City to young people who lost their lives due to the harmful effects of social media, according to multiple reports. The Sussexes' Archewell Foundation previously unveiled its Parents' Network initiative as a support system for parents of children affected by online harm, sources said. Harry and Meghan said the verdict is a reckoning, and for too long, families have paid the price for platforms built with total disregard for the children they reach. They said they stand with every parent and young person who refused to be silenced, and today, the truth has been heard and precedent has been set. Harry and Meghan said let this be the change where children's safety is finally prioritized above profit.
Today, the largest technology companies find themselves under unprecedented scrutiny. Their products, their design choices, and their impact on young people are being examined not just in public debate, but now in a court of law.
A Meta spokesperson said teen mental health is profoundly complex and cannot be linked to a single app. Google argued the verdict misunderstood YouTube, insisting it is a responsibly built streaming platform, not a social media site. Other major platforms, including Snapchat and TikTok, were also named in the lawsuit but reached settlements before the trial began.
Prince Harry described seeing constant headlines about state-sponsored surveillance, doxing of election workers and civil rights activists, and massive privacy breaches featuring social security numbers and sensitive health information. He raised questions about how privacy will be protected in the future, including whether a parent should worry about their child's data being sold to a predator, whether a person's voice or face or innermost thoughts should be irrefutably their own, and whether a young girl should worry about being secretly recorded and undressed using AI through smartglasses. Prince Harry said he has experienced a lack of privacy from birth and spent the past seven years in litigation against three media organisations in the UK, according to sources. Harry and other household names, including Lady Doreen Lawrence and Sir Elton John, are waiting to hear whether they have won their high court cases against the Daily Mail's publisher Associated Newspapers Limited for unlawful information-gathering, which ANL strongly denies.
And regardless of any single verdict, one truth is already clear: these companies are on trial in the court of history. This is the first case of its kind, but it will not be the last.
Harry and Meghan included in their statement revelations from the trial, including Mark Zuckerberg's testimony under oath, internal documents showing deliberate strategies to hook young users, and that engagement was repeatedly prioritized over safety.
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have left messages of support at a rehab centre for addicts, but the couple took slightly different approaches, sources said. The National Centre for Rehabilitation of Addicts is a 40-bed facility which opened in 2001 under the Ministry of Health, according to sources.
This trial is already a turning point: it has forced some of the most powerful companies on earth to reveal what’s behind the curtain and to answer, in public and on the record, for choices that shaped an entire generation’s daily life.
Finally, some truth and accountability has arrived.
I had done a deep dive into the tech-fuelled world in which my children – all our children – are growing up in.
About bloody time!
A jury confirmed what parents have felt and experts have said all along – the systems driving our social media platforms have been built to exploit, not protect. And the people at the heart of it have always known it.
This verdict is a reckoning. 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.
Let this be the change, where our children’s safety is finally prioritised above profit.
YouTube is a responsibly built streaming platform, not a social media site.