Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have welcomed the US court’s decision that found Meta and YouTube liable in the social media addiction case.
For those who don’t know, a Los Angeles jury ruled Wednesday that the platforms were negligent in a lawsuit brought by a young woman who argued that their designs caused harm when she was growing up.
The companies were ordered to pay $3 million in compensatory damages, with Meta responsible for the majority share. Punitive damages have not yet been decided.
In a recent statement, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex praised the ruling against big tech companies. “This decision is a reckoning,” the couple told People. “For too long, families have paid the price of platforms built with complete disregard for the children they reach.”
“We stand with every parent and youth who refused to be silenced. Today, the truth has been heard and the example set.”
In a lengthy statement shared on their official website, Prince Harry and Meghan hailed the decision as a major moment in the shift in accountability for tech companies.
“Today’s verdict in Los Angeles and yesterday’s verdict in New Mexico are historic victories for families, advocates and youth everywhere,” he said, “Justice has caught up with Big Tech.”
“The harm is not in the parenting, it’s in the product design,” he said, arguing that the systems behind social media platforms were “built to exploit, not protect.”
Both companies have withdrawn the decision. Representatives from Meta and its parent company Google further said they were reviewing legal options, and said mental health issues could not be confined to a single platform.
“We respectfully disagree with the decision and are evaluating our legal options,” a Meta spokesperson said. “Teen mental health is extremely complex and can’t be pinned down to any one app.”
A Google spokesperson also criticized the legal decision, saying, “This case misunderstands YouTube, which is a responsibly built streaming platform, not a social media.”
The couple has long spoken out publicly about the dangers of social media through their foundation, recently renamed Archewell Philanthropies, which advocates for the mental health of children and teens.
