The Duchess of Sussex has come out defiant after she was “bullied and attacked” every day for 10 years on social media and was “the most trolled person in the entire world”. Addressing a classroom of young people involved with the mental health organisation Batyr on the third day of her Australian visit, Meghan said social media companies were “not incentivised to stop”.
She said: “And I can speak to that really personally, which is why I like to listen, because it rings true for me in a very real way. “For now, 10 years, every day for 10 years, I have been bullied and attacked. And I was the most trolled person in the entire world.” Speaking at Melbourne’s Swinburne University of Technology, the duchess said three defiant words to ‘trolls’: “Now, I’m still here.
She continued: “And when I think of all of you and what you’re experiencing, I think so much of that is having to realise that that billion-dollar industry, that is completely anchored and predicated on cruelty to get clicks – that’s not going to change. So you have to be stronger than that.”
At the InterEdge Summit in Melbourne Park, Harry said he often felt “lost, betrayed, or completely powerless” and had his “head in the sand for years and years” before he and Meghan moved to the US.
“After my mum died just before my 13th birthday, I was like: ‘I don’t want this job. I don’t want this role wherever this is headed, I don’t like it.
“It killed my mum, and I was very much against it, and I stuck my head in the sand for years and years. Eventually, I realised – well, hang on, if there was somebody else in this position, how would they be making the most of this platform and this ability and the resources that come with it to make a difference in the world?
“And also, what would my mum want me to do? And that really changed my own perspective.”
Harry also described Australia’s ban on under-16s using social media as “epic” from a “responsibility and leadership standpoint”. He said: “It should have never, ever got to a ban.
“And now that the ban is in place, now what follows? Because the companies themselves have to be accountable, and there’s no way that young people should be punished by being banned from something that should be safe to use, no matter what.”
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‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.express.co.uk ’
